


Defenders of Kindergarten

by CanuckleheadCowgirl, magnetocerebro



Series: The 495 Marvel Universe [7]
Category: Avengers (Comics), Marvel (Comics), The Defenders (Comic), X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Gen, Kids, Kidverse, matt is the best godfather, the defenders won't know what hit 'em
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2019-11-27 20:16:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 37,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18198818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanuckleheadCowgirl/pseuds/CanuckleheadCowgirl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnetocerebro/pseuds/magnetocerebro
Summary: Matt Murdock didn't know what he was in for when he agreed to babysit Wolverine's adopted girls. Sure, he knew that the Bishop girls had attracted some shady attention for their inheritance alone, but he figured he could handle it.How much trouble could a pair of grade-schoolers be, anyway?





	1. Best Godfather Ever

 

* * *

Logan and K had gone up to Canada after Logan got a call from Heather and Mac Hudson asking for some help tracking down someone who had been part of the department but who had gone rogue. Considering how the department had recently captured them and screwed with Clint, they had plenty of pent-up anger to throw at the problem, too, so they were more than ready to go when they got the call.

Since James was still young enough that it would be hard for him to be away from his parents for a long time — and since no one wanted a repeat of what had happened when Sinister took them — K brought James along. But they made arrangements for the rest of the kids to keep them out of Canada, all things considered.

Clint was staying with Barney's circus family — and helping to take care of Paul and Miranda's brand new little girl — but Logan had asked Matt to look out for the Bishop sisters, since the Avengers were busy dealing with Hydra backlash and the school year had just kicked into swing, so the Westchester teachers were a little busy.

Which meant that the Bishop girls had more or less taken over Matt's apartment.

Susie wasn't taking up too terribly much space, wrapped up in a book series that Hank had given her for her most recent birthday, but Katie was all over the place, fresh out of her cast and wanting to  _play_ with Matt and to help him do anything — including making breakfast.

" _My_ daddy makes omelets with lots and lots of stuff in 'em," Katie said, standing on a chair next to Matt and talking a mile a minute. "I just like cheesy eggs, though."

"Is that so?"

"Uh-huh. But Susie likes to put  _salsa_ in hers. Huh, Susie?"

"I really just like cereal," Susie said distractedly from where she was still curled up with her book.

"Susie's boring," Katie said, leaning a little closer until Matt put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from getting  _too_ close to what he was doing.

"Just cheese, right?"

She broke into a grin and nodded. "Uh-huh! You're good at babysitting!"

"Just good at listening," Matt said with a quiet smirk.

Katie nodded and then climbed back down to 'help' some more, setting out some plates so they could eat together with an energy that had Matt wondering why he'd agreed to this job in the first place — besides the fact that the girls seemed impossible to say no to. "So what're we gonna do first?" she asked. "We can play games or we can go to the park or we can watch movies or we can tell stories or we can do whatever!"

"What do  _you_ want to do?"

"I think we should go to the park," Katie decided. "I wanna swing on the swings!"

"As long as I can take my book," Susie put in.

"Course you can," Matt said with a crooked smirk as he brought the pan of eggs over. "Wouldn't dream of separating you and the Diamond Princess."

"She's my favorite 'cause she's the oldest," Susie said with a grin.

"Yeah, you said," Matt said, nodding along.

Katie rolled her eyes and leaned toward Matt. "Susie loves princesses. But  _I'm_ gonna be an X-Man-Avenger just like my big brother!"

"I bet you'll be the best one," Matt said with a quiet smirk. "Outdo your dad in no time, too."

"Oooh, yes!" Katie agreed fervently. "Uh-huh! The best out of everybody in the whole wide world!" She bounced and wiggled in her seat as Matt started, at last, on his own breakfast. "I'm gonna use a bow 'n' arrows like Clint does!"

"Are you going to call yourself Hawkeye like he does too?" Matt asked over his shoulder.

"Maybe," Katie said. "Clint said I got lotsa time to come up with a name 'cause of how I'm not even five yet."

"Yeah, you've got plenty of time," Matt agreed.

Katie nodded, happily humming to herself as she ate her cheesy eggs. She was sure that she was going to be  _just like Clint_  when she got bigger, and since all the adults around her kept telling her that she could reach for the stars, she didn't see why it wouldn't happen.

Once they'd had their breakfast, Susie helped Katie get changed into some things that actually matched and made sure that she had her shoes on the right feet before they all headed to the park.

Katie made sure that Matt knew how things were supposed to go, too. "We gotta hold hands and look both ways," she informed him once they got to a street, patiently waiting for him to turn his head in both directions even though he would have heard any cars coming. And then, of course, Katie made sure to tell Matt all about how they were gonna be "real close, so you just yell for us if you need us" — clearly something Logan and K had told her before.

"Got it," Matt said, shaking his head at the precocious little girl before Katie rushed off to go swing on the swings, while Susie simply sat down on the bench with her book.

Eventually, Susie finished her Diamond Princess book, and she politely handed it off to Matt before she went to catch up with Katie. Once the two of them were in the same place, then, it wasn't long before Matt was smirking to himself listening to the two of them play pretend. Susie was a Jewel Princess, and Katie was  _enthusiastically_ playing the part of the bad guy Darkling trying to chase her around the playground.

"Susie, you're too  _fast!_ " Katie complained loudly.

"You're not s'pposed to catch me!"

"But you're too fast! I don'  _wanna_ be a bad guy no more!"

"But you said you didn't want to be a princess!"

"Well… well maybe I can be a  _dragon_!"

"Nuh- _uh_! That's for the  _Ruby_ Princess and I'm the Diamond one!"

"Well Inna be a dragon!"

Susie tossed her head back and let out a long groan. "Okay,  _fine_."

Katie giggled and then did her best approximation of a dragon roar, running around the playground and "protecting" her sister from invisible bad guys — which was really more Katie's style anyway.

That on its own was more than entertaining to Matt, though he was distracted from the little girls' games when he heard several more people approaching, accompanied by a few gossipy whispers from the women with kids at the park.

Even if Matt hadn't been listening out for the girls, the ladies' whispers would have drawn his attention anyway. They had started out talking about him — and he was trying to ignore that part — but then they were having a little debate about whether to call someone about the strange group of men that had shown up. Said strange men were talking in quiet Russian, and Matt slowly got to his feet, headed toward the girls. He was  _not_ taking chances with them — and if the Russians caused trouble for anyone else, he'd make sure they regretted it, too.

"Katie, Susie," Matt called out to them, which had Katie giggling when she saw him headed over.

"Oooh! Matt! You're in the  _lava_!" she said. "You gotta get off the ground!"

Matt couldn't help but smirk at her, especially since he was headed their way anyway and they were both on the playground, so up the wooden stairs he went to where the plastic wheel was. "Better?"

"Uh-huh! Your feet were on  _fire_!"

"Glad you warned me," Matt said, though he was still listening for the Russians. "We need to head home now. It's time for lunch."

"Aww, do we gotta?"

"Yeah, we gotta," Matt said. "Come on down, alright?"

" _Fiiiiine_ ," Katie said, letting out a long sigh — though just as she and Susie started to climb down, Matt heard a few approaching footsteps in a rush and then a muffled sound of surprise from each of the girls as a few of the men grabbed them both with hands over their mouths, probably assuming that would be enough to keep Matt from hearing them.

They were wrong.

For just a few moments, the men probably thought they'd gotten away with it, too, as Matt came calmly down the wooden stairs, his head tipped slightly to the side — before he took his walking stick in a tighter grip at the top and turned hard, knocking the end of it into the legs of one of the men so that he fell backward, landing on his back and still cushioning Susie on the fall.

That, of course, prompted Katie to put into effect what K had taught her, biting one man's hand until he retracted it and she could start shouting for help at the top of her lungs — clearly letting Matt know where she was, too, even as he flipped his cane over and slammed it in between the legs of the guy holding Susie so he wouldn't be getting up to grab her again.

"Susie, I need you to run to that bench over there," he told her as he pulled her up and gestured with a tip of his head toward where an older couple was watching with their own grandkids gathered up with them. "That grandpa's ex-military and has a concealed weapon and he won't hesitate to shoot someone if they try to take you."

Susie was wide-eyed as she whispered "okay" before Matt set her down and then rushed after the still-screaming Katie. He probably would have been more entertained by her mastery of what sounded like every insult and swear word in several different languages if he wasn't focused on getting to her — but she really was getting more creative and colorful as she got further away from him.

By that time, the Russians had caught on to the fact that this wasn't going to be as easy as they thought it would be, and they rushed toward Matt in a group from all sides.

One of them took a solid swing at Matt with a baseball bat, which he caught with one hand to yank and twist until the Russian had to either drop it or risk breaking his wrist. He tossed the bat hard to the side, where it slammed into another guy's stomach, though in that same movement, one of the other Russians grabbed his still-extended arm and flipped him with it.

Matt landed hard on his back and took a solid kick to the ribs before he turned on his side, grabbed the ankle of the same Russian, and yanked until that guy fell down too.

He pushed himself back up and then twisted out of the way of another kick before he got himself upright, shoving himself up the last foot or so and using that momentum to put more oomph into a punch that sent another guy spinning backward.

Matt could still hear Katie calling out to him, so he kicked the legs out from underneath another Russian coming his way before he sprinted toward the screaming little girl. Once he caught up, he heard the guy swear under his breath a split second before Katie punched him hard in the jaw — once again, obviously showing who had raised her.

Matt rushed the last few feet and followed up Katie's punch with one of his own — with a lot more power to it. The guy went reeling, and Matt stepped in to pull Katie out of his grasp, where she all but melted into him.

"Katie, I need you to catch up to your sister," Matt said, breathing hard and trying not to show it.

For just a second, Katie paused to argue it, but when she saw that there were still a few creeps in tracksuits, she decided against it and let Matt set her down so she could rush to Susie while Matt dealt with the rest of them.

Matt was sure they were calling him a few choice names as they rushed him, but he had no patience for this group of incompetent kidnappers.

The first one to try to come at him from behind got thrown over his shoulder, and Matt kicked him in the side of the head, knocking him out and taking him out of the fight. Another man got a good punch in that had Matt reeling and shaking his head out, and he took a baseball bat to the gut before he grabbed it, twisted, and pulled it from the Russian's hands to use against them, swinging hard and cracking two of them across the face.

By then, there were only two Russians left. One of them rushed Matt with a shout, helpfully alerting Matt that he was coming, and he twisted at the last second and grabbed the man's arm, using his momentum to crash the last two men into each other hard.

All of the tracksuited men were either staggered or unconscious, so the few still on their feet beat a retreat, and Matt listened for a moment to make sure that they really were gone before he let his shoulders drop and made his way over to the girls with a tight smile.

"You alright?"

Katie nodded and let out a little noise before she rushed to Matt to hug him around the legs, and he let out a sigh before he crouched down to let her hug him properly.

"Are  _you_ alright?" asked the older gentleman, frowning at the state of Matt.

"Fine," Matt said, letting out a breath before he pushed himself to his feet. "Thanks for looking out for them."

"Don't worry about him," Luke said, appearing almost out of nowhere from the girls' perspective as he walked up to the little group. "He does this to himself on his days off if he can't fight a fight before then."

Matt smirked Luke's way. "And you like to come at the last second and act like you meant to be here the whole time."

"You gonna tell me you saw different?" Luke chuckled.

"Sure I did," Matt said dryly as Katie tugged on his hand until he picked her up with an 'oof'.

Susie looked up at Luke and then took a step closer to Matt. "We gotta go home," she said softly.

"You sure you don't want to get some ice cream or something on the way?" Luke asked with a warm smile. "Maybe get some frozen peas for Matt's face?"

Both of the girls glanced up at Matt, who had the driest expression they'd seen yet, and Katie burst out giggling and kissed Matt's cheek just above a dark bruise. "You gotta get better," she told him with a nod. "You don't gots healing like my mom and dad and my Clint, so it's gonna be purple for a  _long_ time."

Susie, on the other hand, was still watching Luke with her lips pursed. "Okay," she said slowly. "If Matt says it's okay."

"Matt ain't gonna argue with me on this," Luke promised. "He needs some ice cream too, don't you think?"

"Uh-huh," Susie said, glancing up at Matt, who smirked her way.

"Can't argue with that," he agreed, letting Susie hold his other hand as Luke completely failed at not looking like he was  _totally entertained_ by Matt and his two girls. "What were you even doing at the park?" Matt asked as they headed for the ice cream place not far from there.

"I could ask you the same thing," Luke said. "Especially with a couple of little girls."

"Godkids," Matt said as if it was completely normal for him to go to the park with two tiny girls.

"Who thought  _that_ was a good idea?" Luke laughed.

"My daddy," Katie sang out happily.

"And who's that, sweetheart?" Luke asked, smirking to himself. "Do I know him?"

Katie regarded him carefully, drawing herself up a little taller as she tried to decide if Luke was trustworthy enough to tell her dad's  _real_ name or his codename. She nodded to herself at last and then giggled. " _My_ daddy is  _Wolverine_."

Luke stopped outright at that, his eyebrows high. "Oh really?" He glanced at Matt, more out of habit than anything. "Alright. Really. What's the story here?"

"Really," Matt said, taking his own turn to look highly entertained. "What, it's so unbelievable that I'd make a good godfather?"

"Yes."

"Thanks. That's really helpful."

"Well, I mean, considering her  _dad,_ it's a step up." Luke was chortling at his own joke as the girls ran circles around the two men.

" _My_ daddy is Beast!" Susie piped up helpfully.

"Now that … really is something," Luke said.

Matt chuckled to himself and ruffled Susie's hair before he let Luke in on the story. "Kingpin had their father trapped in some scheme. Logan called me in after he dealt with the problem, but there were two orphan girls left in the aftermath."

"And now the Russians are after them," Luke said, shaking his head. "Make sure you let Logan know how much I appreciate the whole war between the gangs going on while these low-lives try to step in and take Kingpin's place."

"I'll pass it along," Matt agreed, shaking his head before he dropped his voice a bit. "Not the first time that group's come after those girls, actually. They're set to inherit a billion between them, so…"

Luke let out a low whistle at that. "Gonna be more than just the Russians poking around."

"Don't I know it," Matt said. "We're lucky it's mostly been them, but you can bet K  _already_ had a talk with me about running numbers and backgrounds on every boyfriend down the line too. That woman thinks ahead."

"Probably why Logan's doing as well as he is now," Luke said.

"Oh, without a doubt," Matt chuckled.

"You talkin' about my mom?" Katie asked, her eyes bright and wide.

"We are," Luke said. "Though I've only heard stories about her so far."

"She's the  _best_ ," Katie said fervently. "She helpeded my friend Steve fight some super bad guys and stabbed 'im dead." Katie mimed stabbing as if she had claws. "Cause of how you shouldn't grab little girls, right, Matt?"

"Right," Matt said without missing a beat.

Katie nodded. "Uh-huh. I  _tried_ to tell him how he was gonna get stabbed but he didn't lissen and then my daddy came and got me so Mom could make 'im learn a lesson."

"And did they learn it?" Luke asked.

"I dunno. Dad said I had to close my eyes, so I did," Katie said with a shrug.

"Then I'll bet she taught 'em good," Luke said with a smile.

Katie grinned at him brilliantly, warming up to him significantly by the time they got to the ice cream shop, where Susie got strawberry and Katie got chocolate, as usual.

"Do we gotta go to the doctor?" Susie whispered to Luke.

"Nope," Luke said.

"But Matt's face looks bad, and he's limpin', and I bet my daddy could fix 'im up," Susie said.

"You think he needs a Twinkie on top of the ice cream?"

"Maybe," Susie said. "I'm learning about how to help people too, you know. I wanna be like… I wanna be like my Dr. Blue an' save people!"

"And you're gonna be great at it," Luke said.

Susie grinned at him, happily working on her ice cream while Katie monopolized most of the attention, telling stories about her mom and how she was so good at fighting.

Finally, Matt let out a breath and got to his feet. "Their parents are going to be back in a couple weeks. Think you can keep an eye out for me?" he asked Luke, gesturing their way. "Apparently, this is more of a bodyguard situation than a babysitting tour. I'll try and keep an ear to the ground for anyone else that might come looking for them."

"I … am not really … I don't  _do_ babysitting," Luke said. "Pickin' on you, sure but …"

"I'm not pawning them off on you; that would be a disaster," Matt said with a smirk. "Just… keep your eyes open."

"Sure, I can do that. You want me to bring Danny in too?"

"Oh sure. Because what my godkids need is Danny."

"Never know," Luke said.

Matt shrugged. "Alright. We'll be at my place. You know where to find me."


	2. Ninjas and Ice Cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Danny meets Matt's godkids.

 

* * *

When Danny heard from Luke what the story was, he couldn't  _possibly_ turn down the shot to see Matt dealing with  _godkids_ — what was that even  _like_  — so he let himself into Matt's apartment and almost immediately burst into laughter at what he saw.

Susie had taken her dad's job to heart and was doing her very best to baby Matt in a way that Danny had seen actual nurses and doctors get waved off or snapped at for doing — but how could Matt tell a grade schooler off for her enthusiasm?

Matt was lying flat on the couch, and Susie — impressively — had a hold of his wrist and was counting heartbeats while Katie helpfully played nurse and filled up a water bottle. He was actually getting some pretty good care, considering the ages of his helpers: they'd grabbed ice from the freezer, put it in bags, wrapped the bags in towels, and made sure he put those homemade ice packs on the worst-looking bruises.

"My daddy says you don't put the ice right on it because it can hurt your skin," Susie was explaining as Danny came in. "I got a  _big_ bruise when I fell off my horse, and he showed me how to take care 'a stuff."

Matt let out a breath that said he had long ago given up on fighting the girls and then, clearly addressing Danny, said, "Not a word."

"Oh, no, why would I say something about this?" Danny laughed.

"Listen—"

"If we'd known this was what it took to get you to—"

"Shut up, Danny."

Danny snickered, even as the younger Bishop sister came over to see their latest visitor, and Katie beamed up at him. "Are you a friend'a Matt's?"

Danny crouched down to her level. "Sure am," he said. "I'm Danny. What's your name?"

"Katie!" She bounced on her toes happily. "You look kinda like my big brother. Didja know that?"

"O...kay." Danny shook his head at her. "Sure. Must be a cool big brother."

"Sometimes, I guess," Katie said with a shrug. "Even if he's a duck."

"Not sure there's a good reaction here," Danny laughed, letting Katie pull him by the hand to where Susie was working Matt over. "So, you look comfortable."

"Shut up," Matt muttered.

Danny grinned a little wider. "I didn't actually believe it when I heard it, but you're getting totally run over."

Matt's expression was incredibly dry and was more than enough of an answer, though Danny was undercut by Susie coming over to inspect him and frowning his way. "Oooh, you need an ice pack too," she informed Danny in her best "serious" voice. "You got a bruise on your arm!"

"I got it!" Katie yelled, rocketing off to the kitchen to start digging for more ice from the ice maker, which had Matt laughing outright.

"No, no, go ahead and tell me about getting railroaded," he told Danny.

"We're not running railroads. I'm gonna be a  _doctor_ ," Susie told Matt severely, rolling her eyes.

"Of course you are," Danny said, still too entertained  _not_ to laugh.

Katie came skipping over with her homemade ice pack and presented it to Danny with both hands, grinning crookedly up at him. "Do you fight bad guys like my Matt?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah, I do."

"I'm gonna be an X-Man-Avenger when I get bigger," Katie informed him, watching to make sure that Danny actually put the ice on his arm before she broke into another smile and climbed up to sit next to him. "Just like my big brother."

"The duck?" Danny teased.

"Uh-huh. My Clint is gonna be an X-Man-Avenger as soon as he be's a teenager!"

"Sounds like he's got life all figured out," Danny said with a crooked smile.

"Uh-huh." Katie beamed up at him. "So're you gonna go fight bad guys with my Matt? Because he's not s'pposed to do that when he's being on rest and floods!"

"I'm  _fine_ ," Matt said dryly — which just had Danny laughing that much harder.

"Nuh-uh. My daddy says you hafta drink lots and sleep lots when you been hurt real bad 'cause it helps you get better faster," Susie sang out to Matt.

Danny chuckled. "She's not wrong."

"Stay out of it."

"Can't. I've got the other one on my case, right, Miss X-Man-Avenger?" Danny teased, poking Katie in the ribs and getting her to giggle.

"I like Danny!"

"Course you do. You've only known him for, what, five minutes?" Matt shot back.

Katie grinned. "Uh-huh, and I like him!"

"No accounting for taste, then."

"Hey, I think she's got great taste," Danny laughed, clearly enjoying himself.

"Mom says I do too," Katie said, grinning up at Danny. "She says I'm  _trouble_."

"That doesn't sound right," Danny said.

"Yeah-huh!" Katie stuck her tongue out at Danny. "I'm the best and I got the best trouble and I even got so much trouble Mom had to kill a  _whole Hydra dude_."

Danny blinked. "That… is a lot of trouble," he said, looking toward Matt, who just shrugged as if it was normal for his godkids to bring down the wrath of their parents on Hydra's head.

"Uh-huh. My big brother? He totally also fights bad guys. There was a super evil vampire, and Mom and Dad were there, and the purple bad guy with stupid helmet face saved 'em!"

"That's… a whole story there," Danny said, shaking his head and honestly not sure how much of this was true and how much was a little girl making things up.

"Yeah, only I'm not s'posed to tell too much of it 'cause of how my big brother got hurt and got all messed up and he doesn't like talkin' 'bout it."

"He alright now?" Danny asked, wondering if he needed to do… something.

Katie nodded. "Yeah. He's okay except he's scared of doctors. It makes Dr. Blue sad."

"Matt's scared of doctors too," Danny said without missing a beat — he couldn't pass it up.

"Nuh-uh," Susie said. "I'm gonna be a doctor and he's not scared of me!"

"That's because you're the best doctor," Danny said.

"And you get goddaughter privilege," Matt said with a smirk Susie's way.

"Are you feel better?" Susie asked, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, lots better," Matt promised.

"Good." Susie leaned over to kiss his forehead. "You gotta get better 'cause I love you."

"You're just spoiled because your parents are so quick to heal," Matt said with a little laugh.

"Yeah, but that's just my mom, not my dad. I got Dr. Blue!"

"Right. How could I forget?" Matt said, smiling wider at her.

"I dunno 'cause Dr. Blue is my dad and he's the  _best_ ," Susie giggled.

"Nuh-uh. My dad's the best!" Katie said.

"No, your dad is  _bloody_ ," Susie said, sticking her tongue.

"It's 'cause he kicks butt!" Katie insisted.

"I don't like that part," Susie said, scrunching up her nose.

"You gotta get used to it if you're gonna be a  _doctor_."

"I don't mind it if it's for  _helping_."

"Daddy  _does_ help!"

"My daddy helps owies!"

"My daddy gives 'em to bad guys!"

Danny couldn't help but smirk and whisper to Matt, "I have a feeling this is a standing argument."

"What gives you that idea?" Matt asked — a second before Katie tackled her big sister.

"Oh, no reason."

Matt just smirked as the girls kept up their argument. At least they weren't trying to nurse him back to health anymore.

* * *

The next morning, Danny woke up to Katie climbing on top of him, almost nose to nose. "Are you sure you and my Clint aren't  _lerated_?"

"Hi, Katie. Yeah, I'm sure."

"I dunno, 'cause of how your duck fluff is the same color as his duck fluff."

"My duck fluff?"

"Yeah." Katie rubbed her hands in Danny's hair. "Quack! Quack quack!"

Danny couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, I didn't know that was called 'duck fluff'."

"Well, it is."

"I stand educated."

Katie grinned and then pulled on Danny's hand. "My Matt is still all blue an' black an' stuff, and Susie says he's gotta sleep, so you gotta take me outside so we can play 'cause I'm  _bored_ and Susie just wants to read her books!"

"Oh, I didn't know that's what I was doing today."

"You gotta play with me," Katie said, nose to nose with him again.

"Can I get dressed first?"

Katie tipped her head back and let out a long groan. "Okay, fine, but you gotta be fast!"

Danny laughed and picked her up to set her down on her feet again. "I'll be fast, I promise. Can you put your shoes on for me?"

"Okay! But you gotta check they're on the right feet like my mom does!"

"I'll make sure," Danny promised, shaking his head to himself as Katie rushed out of the room and he grabbed his clothes. He almost wasn't surprised that Katie started pounding on the door before he was quite finished, but he pulled his shirt on and met her at the door. "Seriously?"

"I got my shoes!" she declared happily, pointing down at her feet — and she had them on the right feet, too. Small miracles.

Danny grinned and took Katie's hand. "We're heading out," he told Susie. "Think you can babysit Matt while we're gone?"

Susie grinned, giggled, and nodded. "Uh-huh. I'll take really good care of him!"

"I know you will," Danny said, still highly entertained as Katie dragged him outside so they could go run around. She wanted to go get some ice cream, and Danny couldn't wait to bring her back to Matt and get her sticky fingers all over everything he owned. Little bit of revenge for Matt not warning him that these girls would run his life for the foreseeable future.

It wasn't long before Katie was starting to run circles around Danny, too.

Danny shook his head as he tried to catch her before she could run too far. "Come on, Katie; we do actually have to get back."

"Are we bringing Susie ice cream too?"

"Do you think she wants it? She didn't come with us…"

Katie giggled. "You're right. She must not want any ice cream."

Danny smirked. "We'll get some for her on the way back."

Katie grinned, bouncing back and forth and giggling and singing "strawberry" over and over again — until there was suddenly a cloud of smoke around them, and Danny couldn't see Katie.

He could, on the other hand, hear her screaming words that she should  _not_ have known at that age.

Danny burst into action all at once. He know  _exactly_ who these guys were, but that didn't change the fact that he wasn't sure if the Hand was after the girls — Luke  _had_ said that they were heiresses — or if they were after  _him_. Or maybe a little combination of both.

Thankfully, it seemed like Katie had learned well form whoever taught her how to make a scene when someone grabbed her that she didn't want to go with. There was a steady stream of kicking, screaming, and swearing that Danny could follow, and even when the sound was muffled by someone's hand over Katie's mouth, a triumphant, "Eww, you taste real bad!" told Danny that she'd bit someone too.

The net result, though, was that Danny had a clear idea of where to go — and he wasn't about to let Matt's goddaughter get snatched away by the Hand on his watch.

* * *

Matt could hear Danny heading up the apartment stairs long before he and Katie even got to the door, though he was on his feet and frowning — and waving off Susie's concern — when he realized that Danny's steps sounded halting, and he was breathing hard.

"What happened?" Matt demanded when a battered Danny let himself into the apartment with Katie in tow — and the little girl was making all sorts of concerned noises and promising to shower Danny with ice packs and Band-aids.

"Your goddaughter has some sort of neon sign above her head, Matt," Danny said as he sat down on the couch and Katie rushed off to go find her sister so they could conspire to help  _both_ of their injured friends. "You wouldn't believe how many Hand ninjas got yelled at by a little girl today."

Matt couldn't help but smirk at the way Danny described it. "Told you it's more than a babysitting job."

Danny leaned further back in the couch until his head was tipped back and he was looking at the ceiling and listening to the Bishop girls conspiring to keep the two Defenders in good supply of "rest and flu-ds." "How long do you have them, again?"

"Couple weeks, give or take."

"And who usually runs this circus?" Danny shook his head. "They're practically in constant danger…"

"Yeah, and they usually live with the X-Men — or the Avengers during the summer…"

"You don't do anything halfway, do you?" Danny chuckled.

Matt smirked. "What would be the fun in that?"


	3. Hi, Foggy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OMG FOGGY IS HERE

After the way the last two outings had gone, Matt informed the girls that they would be having a day off. Inside.

The girls didn't seem terribly put out by the suggestion, especially once they realized it meant they'd be spending the day with popcorn and movies and board games and video games and anything else that Matt could come up with to keep them distracted.

The problem, of course, was that Matt's house wasn't exactly choc full of the kinds of things the girls were used to having. No Disney movies, no Candyland… And since Danny was gone looking into why the Hand had shown up and Luke was busting up a few Russian hideouts in the neighborhood, that meant Matt needed to call in backup.

He hadn't exactly told Foggy what he needed help with, but he had told the girls that this was  _not_ a friend from work, and they agreed fervently that they wouldn't try to give him rest and floo-ds and that they'd be good. So Matt was hoping they'd stick to that, but with these girls, he really had no guarantee.

For the moment, the girls were playing some kind of hand-clapping game that kept them busy, though Matt was glad when he heard Foggy coming up to the door before the bell even rang. "I need a favor," he said when he opened the door and stepped back to let Foggy come in.

"Yeah, I gathered," Foggy said, though before he could say anything or ask anything else, he heard the girls giggling in the living room and stopped. "Matt," he said slowly, "why do you have two little girls in your place?"

"Godkids," Matt said with the same easy shrug that he'd been giving everyone else who had asked that question so far.

"You have godkids?"

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"No, no, no. Just… wait." Foggy shook his head as well as his hands as he tried to wrap his head around this revelation. "You have godkids?"

"Yes."

"You have godkids and you didn't  _tell me_?"

Matt wasn't trying hard to hide his laughter when this was, really, the best possible reaction Foggy could have had. "To be fair," he said, still grinning, "this is the first time they've stayed with me."

"Who in their right mind made you a godfather?" Foggy asked, still in obvious disbelief, though Matt could hear a sort of incredulous laughter creeping up on him all the same. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Matt laughed, leaning against the table as he listened to Foggy finally catching up to his laughter. "It's a long story. Their dad was caught up in an extortion scam with Kingpin."

That revelation had Foggy losing all of his good mood as he spun to face Matt. "Okay, now I'm gonna want to know the rest of that story. You know that, right? You can't just bury the lead like that!"

"I thought the lead was that I was a godfather in the first place," Matt said with a smirk.

"Okay, well, that too," Foggy admitted. "But still. Kingpin?" He gestured toward the Bishop girls, who were now peeking over the back of the couch watching the back and forth and obviously curious about this latest addition to the rotating cast of Matt's friends. "How'd a couple cute little kids end up mixed up in — and then  _you_ end up — what?"

"Like I said; it's a long story," Matt said. "Their dad was killed, and their new guardian asked me as a personal favor to help out. I drew up the paperwork so they could stay with the guardians they loved and not the guys that wanted their inheritance, and I guess they got attached in the process. Next thing I know, I'm a godfather."

"How come I didn't know about any of this?"

"Honestly?" Matt put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "It's mostly just been a title. And a couple extra Christmas presents. Their whole family has been through a rough patch, so I've been staying hands-off and letting them take care of each other. They've got two adopted older brothers too that were pulled out of a bad situation…"

Foggy was slowly shaking his head the more he heard of the story. "And you didn't  _tell me_."

Matt shrugged, but before he could say anything else, Katie had apparently decided she couldn't be patient any longer and vaulted over the back of the couch — to Susie's hissed out "you're gonna break your arm again."

Not that Katie was listening. Instead, she sauntered right up to Foggy and looked up at him with both hands on her hips until he crouched down to be more at her level.

"Hey," Foggy said with a smile. "What's your name?"

"Katie," she said, one eye closed as she clearly sized him up. "What's yours?"

"Foggy."

"That's a weird name," she informed him, which had Matt snerking in the background. "Is it like how some people have 'Venger names like Hawkeye an' stuff?"

Matt couldn't hide his laughter anymore. "Oh yeah. That's it."

"You shouldn't lie to your godkids, Matt," Foggy said, rolling his eyes — not that Matt could see it.

"Oooh, yeah, my daddy says lying is the worst and he gets all growly if you do that," Katie said, nodding seriously.

"See?" Foggy grinned as he sat down so he didn't have to stay crouched to be at Katie's level. "The kid gets it."

Matt laughed. "You've been here all of two minutes and you're already conspiring against me with my goddaughter!"

"Are you surprised?" Foggy laughed.

"I really shouldn't be."

Foggy grinned at that — and then grinned wider when Susie made her way over as well. She was obviously more cautious than her little sister was, but she seemed to have warmed up to Foggy significantly more when she could see that he and Matt got along so well. "Hey, what's your name?" he asked her when she got close enough to stand  _almost_ within arm's reach.

"Susie," she said quietly, shuffling her footsteps so that she slowed down and then came to a stop just beyond where Foggy was sitting with Katie.

"Katie and Susie, huh?" Foggy nodded. "You two have Matt totally outclassed in looks and smarts, I'll bet you a hundred dollars."

Katie giggled, one hand over her mouth. "That's a  _lot_!"

"Well, it's true," Foggy pointed out.

Katie giggled again and nodded. "My mom says we're the prettiest little girls she's ever seen!"

"Sounds about right," Foggy agreed, then looked up at Matt. "So, what's the favor, anyway? Or did you just call me over so I could meet your godkids? Not that I'm opposed to that, mind you."

"Didn't think you were," Matt said with a smirk before he came to sit down with the rest of them — which was apparently invitation enough for Susie to rush over to him and climb on his back so her arms were around his neck. It was both a calming move for her to be close to someone she trusted and a defensive move to keep Matt between her and someone new, and he knew that's what it was. He wasn't going to say anything about it, though — not when he knew she was probably shaken up from the Russian kidnapping attempt and the fact that her little sister had been grabbed a few more times on top of that.

Foggy had clearly noticed it too, and he frowned as he watched the interaction. "Seriously, what's up?"

Matt let out a sigh. "I'm taking care of the girls while their parents are out of the country," he explained. "And like I said: there's a few people out there looking for their inheritance."

Foggy shook his head in disbelief. "I should have known you'd find a way to take something as simple as babysitting and turn it into some big quest against evil or whatever."

"Yeah, I'm always finding some new quest against evil or whatever," Matt said dryly.

"That's because my Matt's real good at bein' a superhero," Katie said confidently. "He scared off some real bad guys that tried and grabbed me an' Susie!"

Foggy gestured to Katie with one hand. "What the hell, Matt?"

This time, it was Susie's turn to burst into giggles, suddenly looking a lot more like her precocious sister as she covered her mouth with one hand, still hanging onto Matt with the other, though that meant Matt had to hold onto her behind his back so she didn't fall off. "You said a bad word!"

" _My_ daddy says that word all the time," Katie countered, to Matt's clear amusement.

" _My_ daddy says you gotta ex-pand your 'cabulary!"

Foggy shook his head as he watched the girls. "What is even happening right now."

"Welcome to my life," Matt chuckled, shifting to stand and letting Susie down in the same motion before he offered his hand to Foggy to pull him up. "Girls, can I borrow my friend for a second?" he asked.

"Oooh, are you gonna get him in trouble 'cause he said a bad word?" Susie asked with a wicked little smile.

"Sure am," Matt said without missing a beat.

At that, Katie patted Foggy's arm consolingly. "It's okay," she assured him. "I get in trouble a lot too. My mom says it's 'cause I'm a handful."

"I believe it," Foggy said, ruffling her hair before he followed Matt into the kitchen for some semblance of privacy that he was pretty sure the girls would ignore anyway.

Once he had leaned against the kitchen counter, Matt let out a slow breath. "They had a run-in with some Russian mobsters," he explained.

"Matt—"

"The girls are fine," Matt broke in before Foggy could say anything else. "Luckily, the guys were rank amateurs. Helped that one of the grandparents at the park was ex-military." When Foggy crossed his arms and let out a sound that said he clearly still wasn't happy about the situation, Matt sighed. "Yeah, I know. That's why I asked you for a favor. The girls get that it's not a good idea to go back out in the city when they've got a target on their foreheads, but they're also  _young_. And my place isn't exactly a day care center."

"Well, what the hell do you want me to do about it? Not like I'm a professional nanny," Foggy pointed out.

"You never know," Matt said, smirking hard as he pretended to think it over. "You could be missing out on your true calling…"

"You're so full of—" Foggy caught himself as he heard the little girls around the corner giggling to themselves. "Crap. You're so full of crap."

Matt snickered. "I'm just saying…"

"Shut up," Foggy laughed, shoving Matt in the shoulder and getting him to laugh as well. "Do you want my help or not?"

"So you  _are_ offering your nannying services?"

"That's it," Foggy said as Matt started laughing harder. "I'm abandoning you to the Kindergarten brigade. You're on your own. Clearly, you don't value what I bring to this—"

"Okay, okay," Matt laughed, holding up his hands in a gesture of defeat. "No more manny jokes."

"I absolutely don't believe you."

"Smarter than you look."

"Like you'd know."

Matt grinned at that as he rested his hand on Foggy's shoulder. "I just needed someone to get some movies and things that the kids could do  _inside_. And since I'm not leaving them alone in my place to go shopping and I'm  _not_ taking them with me..."

"Thanks, Matt. It's really nice to know that when the chips are down, you can always consider me an errand boy," Foggy said dryly.

"That's what friends are for, right?" Matt said, still grinning.

Foggy rolled his eyes and then kicked off from the counter he'd been leaning against. "Yeah, okay," he said. "But just for that, I'm going to find the most obnoxious games I can pick up. You know that, right?"

"Weren't you going to do that anyway?" Matt pointed out.

"Maybe."

"Weren't you just teaching my goddaughters not to lie?"

"Shut up, Matt."

Matt was still snickering as Foggy left, and it didn't take long before both of the Bishop girls rushed over to him, their eyes wide as they climbed up to be closer to him. Susie stood on a chair, but Katie took it a little farther and climbed on the table until Matt scooped her off of it and set her down on the counter instead.

"You have a silly friend," Katie informed him.

Matt nodded with a crooked smirk. "He's my best friend."

"Oooh, like me an' my Clint?"

"Pretty much," Matt agreed.

"Even though he says naughty words?" Susie asked.

Matt was trying hard not to laugh, but it was almost physically painful. "Yeah, even then."

"You must  _really_ love 'im," Susie said.

"Sure," Matt said, nodding along. "Now, Foggy's going to go get some movies, so what do you want to do until then?"

"Dance party!" Katie declared — and Susie agreed so quickly and so excitedly that, well, that was clearly the only possible option for Matt.

At least until Foggy could get back and rescue him.


	4. Frank's Turn Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because we gotta.

 

* * *

The Bishop girls had loved playing with Foggy  _all day long_.

He obviously hadn't meant to stay as long as he did, but when he came back with movies and a few video games, the girls somehow talked him into staying "just in case the movies are scary," no matter how many times he promised that the ones he'd picked out would be perfectly fine for them.

And the whole time, Matt was making a mental note to himself that the girls needed something  _really nice_ for their birthdays and Christmas this year. He hadn't laughed this much in ages.

It really was nice to listen to someone else getting roped into the girls' ridiculousness, especially because Susie warmed up to Foggy a lot faster than she'd warmed up to Luke or Danny — she seemed to have an uncanny sense for which of Matt's friends were more "dangerous" than the others. By the time bedtime came around, Foggy had become a permanent installment on Matt's couch, because Susie had climbed in his lap and insisted on holding his hand through any "scary" parts, like when Jafar had Princess Jasmine captured.

Katie, on the other hand, was much more  _active_ about her movie-watching. Whenever something "scary" was going on on the screen, she would let out little squeaks and hide her face behind her hands, but heaven help anyone who offered to hold her hand or sit with her if she was scared.

"I'm not scared!" she would insist. "I'm gonna be an X-Man-Avenger! We don't get scared!"

The noise Foggy had let out when he heard Katie say that the first time had absolutely been worth every minute of Matt having to listen to Foggy busting his balls about the whole situation.

But finally,  _finally_ , the girls had started to calm down, and by the time they were halfway through what had to be the fourth princess movie in the stack Foggy had brought, they actually drifted off to sleep.

Foggy was still shaking his head as they finally got the girls to bed. "Geez, Matt, do they do this to you every time you babysit?"

"They've never stayed this long," Matt admitted. "Their parents are on a trip."

"Geez, Matt."

Matt smirked. "We'll just call this payback for that case you wanted us to take last month."

"Hey, no, you already made me buy the drinks for that one."

"Or that time the month before when you—"

"Yeah, shut up, Matt," Foggy grumbled good-naturedly. "I promise I won't tell anyone you had to call me to rescue you from the scourge of the adorable girls."

"I called you to pick out  _movies_ ," Matt corrected him.

"That might be what you said, but I know what you  _meant._ "

"Sure," Matt said, laughing to himself. "Maybe I called you so I could listen to them running a racket on  _you_."

"If that's the case, I feel like I've been misled and you owe  _me_ drinks." Foggy pointed one finger Matt's way. "Misrepresentation, counsellor."

Matt grinned even wider. "Like you didn't enjoy every second."

"Doesn't change the fact that you didn't tell the truth to get me here."

"Get your facts straight," Matt shot back. "I did actually  _need_ someone to get the movies and video games. Any secondary purposes were incidental."

"I'm still calling it misrepresentation."

"That's your interpretation," Matt said with a smirk. "So does that mean you're  _not_ coming back to protect the girls from the scary movie villains?"

"I thought the devil of Hell's Kitchen would be enough," Foggy said. "Or is this you admitting you need outside help?"

"Help? Me? No," Matt said, waving a hand. "Just seemed like  _you_ were having fun. I'd hate to break that up."

Foggy shook his head. "You know what? Just because I know you  _need_ the help with those two? I'm coming back anyway. Even if you won't admit it."

"You're a hero, Foggy Nelson," Matt said dryly.

"I really am," Foggy said, grinning as he clapped Matt on the back on the way out the door.

Matt shook his head as he heard Foggy leave and then let out a breath, lying down on the couch to  _finally_ take a second to relax. He'd been honored and thrilled when Logan asked him to be godfather for the girls, but he hadn't realized how  _exhausting_ it would be to actually step into that role.

Not that he wasn't grateful for it. He took it seriously. But wow, he was tired. And he defended Hell's Kitchen for his night job and took scumbags to court for his day job.

 _Probably easier when you've got a healing mutation and you don't wear out as fast,_  Matt thought dryly.

He was just starting to relax when he caught the sound of footsteps outside, and he groaned as he pushed himself upright to a sitting position. So far, the only clue that something was amiss was the  _number_ of people he could hear coming up to the apartment building. They were careful and quiet, but that in itself was a sign something was up. A crowd of people was never that quiet unless they were trying to get away with something.

The clincher, though, was when Matt heard the metallic sound of weapons.

In a flash, he was up from the couch and went to the room where the girls were sleeping. He woke Katie up first — since even though she was younger, she had a Hydra kidnapping under her belt already, so she had already put into practice what to do against men with guns.

"Hey, I need you and Susie to hide," he told her in a low, quick tone. He didn't raise his voice or sound panicked — he didn't want to scare them — but he didn't sugarcoat it either. "Get under the bed or in the closet and  _stay hidden_ , do you understand?"

Katie sat up quickly. Matt could hear her heartbeat speeding up as she tried to untangle herself from her sleeping bag — she'd already managed to get wound up in her dreams. "What's goin' on?" she asked in a scared little whisper. "Bad guys?"

Matt nodded. "Yeah, more bad guys. I'll take care of them, but I need you both to stay hidden so they can't find you and grab you."

"Like the Hydra jerks?" she whispered.

"Just like that," Matt agreed. "I need you to watch out for Susie, alright?"

Katie nodded seriously, slipping out of her sleeping bag at last to go with him to wake up Susie — who seemed a lot more panicked than her little sister had been when Matt explained the situation. But Katie made sure to hold her big sister's hand with a whispered promise that she'd look out for her.

"I'm  _older_ than you," Susie said, some of her fear disappearing in the face of the  _offense_ of Katie daring to act like the older sibling.

"Yeah, but I'm gonna be a hero, and you're gonna be a doctor," Katie said reasonably. "I'm better at dealin' with bad guys than you are."

"You can talk about it later," Matt told the girls, though he couldn't help but smirk at Katie's reasoning. When she was old enough to join the team, Logan was going to have his hands full.

So would Matt, for that matter. Considering how much trouble the girls  _already_ attracted…

Matt shook his head to himself, waiting until the girls were hidden and quiet — their whispered conversations falling to the wayside when they both understood the severity of the situation — and then settled into a fighting stance to wait.

He wasn't surprised that the men outside the apartment tried the girls' bedroom window first. But when he heard them trying to get it open, he waited for a second and then rushed it, throwing it open and, in the process, yanking a few men off their perches. He heard them make a satisfying  _crash_  when they hit the stairs and the dumpster below them.

He slammed the window down on the next guy who tried to reach through and yank Matt out through the window, breaking the man's arm in the process. He threw the window open again and kicked the man in the chest — and down he went.

Hearing their friends go down, the others in the group of intruders apparently decided to abandon their attempt to go in quietly. Matt heard the sound of the kitchen window shattering at the same time he heard someone at his front door trying to break into the apartment that way, even with the chains on the door lock making that difficult.

He wanted to keep the fight away from the girls, and since he couldn't hear anyone else outside the girls' window — for now — he rushed for the kitchen just as four men came in, loudly clacking the safety on their guns as a cocky "warning" to Matt that they  _meant business_.

"Give us the girls and we won't shoot you," one of the men said in a harsh, sneering tone.

"No."

For just a second, the guy seemed surprised by Matt's response, but then he shrugged and sneered. "Your funeral."

Matt smirked as he heard the men all raise their weapons — and then rushed them, grabbing the nearest thing on the counter so that the guy who had been so smug to start with took a half-empty popcorn bowl to the head hard enough to knock him back. Matt seized the opportunity to grab the guy's gun out of his hands and hit him over the head with it while he was still reeling, knocking him out cold.

He tossed the gun aside and rushed forward so he didn't lose momentum. One of the men fired, and Matt heard the kitchen counter explode just behind him, but he managed to get his hands on that guy's gun next and forced it up so the bullets sprayed the ceiling instead. He hit the guy with a hard left hook and then spun with the man when he heard the click of another gun behind him.

The guy Matt was holding cried out when  _he_ took the bullet instead of Matt, and Matt smiled grimly. "Better you than me," he muttered.

The guy lashed out and managed to get an elbow in Matt's side, and all Matt's breath came out in a woosh — though he didn't let him go either. He kicked the guy's feet out and tossed his gun aside too.

There were two guys left still in the kitchen, but just as Matt took one of them off his feet with a solid side kick, he heard the front door finally give under the assault of the guys who had taken that approach, and another half dozen poured in, ignoring the fight in the kitchen to go straight into looking for the girls.

Matt let out a frustrated noise that turned into a groan halfway through it when the second guy in the kitchen knocked him back off his buddy with a solid right hook — though this guy was smarter than the others that had come in and seemed to know trying to  _fight_ Matt wasn't the best idea.

So he shot him instead.

Matt had one hand pressed to his stomach and the other on the counter as he tried to get up again — especially since he could hear the rest of the men tearing apart the apartment looking for Katie and Susie. And he heard when they found the girls, too — because it was all high-pitched swearing and screaming and a few obvious noises of pain from the men who tried to grab them that told Matt the girls were biting and scratching to fight back.

"You're gonna get it when my Matt gets you!" Katie was shouting.

"And my dad!" Susie shouted, taking her cues from Katie, even if she was much more terrified — and obviously so.

And then, when the men manhandled the girls into the living room and they saw that Matt had been shot and was losing blood  _fast_ enough to make his head spin, there was a beat of pure, shocked silence — and then they started screaming all over again.

"You hurt Matt!" Susie squealed.

"You're goin' ta hell!" Katie added.

"Shut up," the guy holding her said roughly, though Katie kept right on swearing at him until the sound became more muffled when he put his hand over her mouth — and then swore himself when she bit him.

The men took the girls in tighter grips and simply dragged them out of there, already swearing under their breaths about how this was supposed to be a much easier job than it was.

* * *

Frank had been watching Ma Gnucci's place for the past week, and he had yet to see anything that would justify going in … outside of the usual mess, that is. The whole family was being careful, watching their step… and Frank wanted to know  _why_. There weren't any big scores that  _anyone_ was talking about, so it didn't make sense for them to be anywhere near as cagey as they were.

But Frank was planning to wait them out, and he'd settled into the battlevan to wait — not that he didn't think they  _knew_ the van. They had to know whose van that was. But if it was Frank or Weasel … no one was brave enough to check.

So he waited. And waited … and only stopped watching when Weasel came by long enough to drop off food. For Frank, it was a little more cushy of a wait than he was used to … and he was just looking for Weasel to show for the day shift when a black SUV pulled up in front of Ma Gnucci's place. They came in fast, and they weren't alone, either — two more SUVs identical to the first zipped up and parked just long enough for the front of the vehicle to dip down before the doors popped open and men started piling out of it.

But as interesting as that was … it wasn't really the men that caught Frank's attention. It was the two little girls that were positively kicking, screaming, and biting the guys holding them. They were easy enough to hear from the moment the doors opened — and Frank was sitting up straight when he heard them, frowning deeply and already more than prepared to go kicking the doors in.

"You guys are so  _dead!_ " one of them screamed before letting out an ear-piercing shriek that only lasted long enough for the guy carrying her to cover her mouth.

"Aww, hell no," Frank muttered to himself as he reached for his vest, though he paused at that. The last thing he wanted to do was to start up a shooting gallery with two little girls in the middle. But as he hesitated, the  _other_ little girl let out a hollow, echoing sob that spoke to exactly how terrified she was. And that did it. He opened the door and bailed out of the van —already straight up marching right for them. His jaw was set, and he hadn't blinked since the first little girl screamed. "Hey! What're you doin' with the kids, huh?"

"None of your business!" shouted the one that had his hand over the fighting little girl's mouth, sounding exasperated at  _another_ wrinkle in the plan.

"Yeah, that's not an answer I'm gonna take," Frank said, almost under his breath. He only made it a few more steps before one of Gnucci's men raised a gun at him — but as always, Frank was prepared and waiting. The round that went off wasn't from Gnucci's guy, but he did drop. And Frank just kept walking right toward the guy with the girls — not blinking or shifting his focus in the least. "Let 'em go and I'll let you walk."

One of the men that  _wasn't_ holding one of the girls narrowed his eyes and then pointed his gun at the sobbing girl instead. "Only need one," he said. "Scram or we'll make our job easier."

"Close your eyes, girls!" Frank barked out an instant before he shot the guy threatening the older girl — and four others in rapid succession. "I don't like askin' twice, so I'm not gonna. Let 'em go.  _Now._ "

There was a quick rush of activity as the two men holding the girls wisely let them go — and then both of the girls ran for all they were worth toward Frank. They didn't know who he was, but he  _had_ to be better than the alternative.

Frank barely blinked as he put his hand on the younger girl's head, his other arm raised and still aiming at the mobsters. "You girls alright?" he asked quietly enough just for them to hear. "They hurt you?"

"They hurt my Matt," the younger girl said, her eyes wide. She was obviously scared, but she managed to sound mad more than anything else.

"Yeah?" He tipped his head slightly, then let out a low grumble. "You see that black van over there?"

"I don' like black vans," the older girl said.

"Well, that's what I got," Frank said. "Go get in there and we'll get you back to your dad, okay? Go on now. Don't touch anything."

The girls shared a glance before the younger girl grabbed her sister's hand, and they nodded, making a run for the van together and not daring to look over their shoulders.

Frank kept a bead on the mobsters. "You gonna tell me what you're doin' terrorizin' little girls, or should I just shoot you now and not give you the chance to try it again?"

"Listen, man, we're not the ones who put out the reward for 'em," one of the men tried to argue.

"Who was it?" Frank asked, tipping his chin up but still not moving otherwise. "An' don't gimmie no crap. I want a name, an' I want it now."

"Some guy called Box," the guy said, shaking his hand. "Jerry Box. Must be loaded. The price tag's high."

Frank narrowed his eyes. "You sure about that? Box?"

"Hey, that's the name it says on the web."

Frank nodded twice and then fired off a round for each one of them, dropping them where they stood before he headed back toward the van.


	5. Frank is So Entertained

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Bishop girls give Frank FREE ENTERTAINMENT.

 

* * *

When Frank climbed in the van, he took just long enough to peek and make sure the girls were there. "Alright. Where you two from? Can you tell me who your mom and dad are?"

"Um, you gotta van fulla gun stuff," the younger girl said.

"Yeah, I do," Frank said before he frowned at the rearview mirror, looking at them. "What do you know about gun stuff?"

"We're not allowed to touch it," the older girl sang out, obviously a rote response. "They're not toys."

"That's right," Frank said. "So you two got names, or am I supposed to call you Thing One and Thing Two?"

"I'm Katie, and that's Susie," the younger girl said. "What's yours?"

He turned in his seat to look at them. "I'm Frank." He thought it over for a long moment. "You know where you live?"

"Yeah, but Mom and Dad're not home," Katie said with a frown and a sniffle, wiping her eyes with the heel of her hand. "We're stayin' with my Matt - but they  _shot him_!" At that, she started to actually cry again, losing all of her anger now that there weren't bad guys around.

"Woah, hey now, take it easy," Frank said, pulling off to the side of the road before he waved her over. "C'mere. It's okay."

Katie sniffled before she climbed up to the front seat and positively latched onto Frank, though Susie wasn't getting anywhere near a  _stranger_ and stayed crunched up in a little ball watching the whole thing over the tops of her knees, obviously not trusting anything.

"You shot those guys," Susie said quietly while Katie was crying.

"They were  _bad_ guys," Frank said. "Anyone that'd mess with little girls has it comin'."

"Yeah, but you shot 'em," Susie said over the tops of her knees.

"Yeah, well. They were threatin' to do the same to you."

"Yeah." Susie hid behind her knees again. "That was really scary."

"Sorry 'bout that, kiddo. Still better than lettin' you get hurt."

"My daddy says it's okay to hurt bad guys," Katie whispered, still sniffling and rubbing her eyes. "He says — he says they're too stupid to get a free pass."

"Yeah? Who's your daddy?" Frank asked with a smirk as he listened to her settling down a little.

Katie took a minute to size him up and decide whether he got to hear her daddy's secret name or not before she shrugged. "My daddy's the best there is. His name's Logan, and he's  _real_ tough."

Frank let out a breath of a laugh. "Oh yeah? What's his last name?"

"Howlett," Katie said proudly. "When he 'dopted me, though, he said I could keep my first last name 'cause of how I think it's prettier."

"Your Dad don't happen to be a hero, is he?" Frank said, smirking to himself. "Cause I think I might know 'im."

"Really?" Katie lit right up. "Really really?" She paused and then stuck her finger in his face. "You gotta prove it. You gotta say his secret name or else you don't  _really_ know 'im."

"Only one guy I know says he's the best there is," Frank said. "Wolverine."

"Yep, that's my daddy!" Katie said, falling apart in giggles.

"Who you got watchin' you while he's chasin' his tail?"

"He's not chasin' his tail!" Katie giggled. "He's fightin' bad guys!"

"Yeah, yeah. He's always fightin' someone," Frank said. "So … your Matt, huh? You know his last name or maybe a 'secret' name?"

"He's our godfather," Susie said quietly. "Mr. Murdock."

"You gotta be kiddin' me," Frank said under his breath, then made a u-turn. "Of course he is."

"Do you know him too?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, I know Red," Frank said. "We cross paths now and again." he shook his head. "You said he got shot?"

Katie nodded, her eyes welling up again. "He tried to stop the bad guys from getting us."

"He's tougher than he looks," Frank said before he took out his phone and made a call. "Don't worry about him." He frowned as he waited for someone to pick up.

"Um, he got shot," Katie said. "That's real bad."

"Not always," Frank said. "I been shot plenty."

" _That's_ real bad too," Susie said, her eyes wide. "My dad's a doctor, and he has to put people back together when that happens."

"You got different dads?" Frank said, frowning before he turned to look at Susie for a moment. "Who's your dad?"

"My daddy's Beast," Susie said brightly. "We got to pick who we stayed with."

Frank shook his head at that, and a moment later, Claire picked up her phone. "You got Red with you?"

"He just showed up — what's going on?"

"Right now? Not much. In a little while, it's probably gonna get hot. Need to get him and these two little girls somewhere safe."

"Two little girls?" Claire repeated. "What are you talking about?"

"Hey, I'll explain when I see you," Frank said. "Be ready to move out."

When Frank hung up, Susie peered up at him. "Why do you call Matt 'Red'? That's not his superhero name."

"It's a nickname," Frank said. "You know about nicknames, don't you?"

"Well, yeah. My daddy has  _loads_ of 'em for everyone. And my mom too," Katie told him. "Like how she calls my brother 'duck fluff' 'cause of his hair."

"Well, that's what I call your Matt."

"It's 'cause he wears red when he's superheroing, huh?" Katie said, nodding seriously. "I'm smart! I get it!"

"You got it, Katie," Frank said.

"Well, what's  _your_ superhero name?" Katie asked, grinning crookedly up at him.

"I ain't got one," Frank said, shrugging. "I leave that to the spandex crowd."

"Awww, c'mon," Katie said. "You gotta have one! My brother's already got his picked out for when he's old enough to be a hero!"

"Nah, I'm just Frank. I'm a soldier, not a superhero."

"I dunno about that," Katie said, one eye closed as she looked him over. "You  _did_ save us, Mr. Frank."

"Nah."

"O-kay. You can think that, but I think you're wrong," Katie informed him.

"I dunno. He did shoot people," Susie pointed out.

" _Bad_ people," Katie said, sticking her tongue out at Susie before she looked up at Frank. "Susie's a party pooper."

"That's just how big sisters are," Frank said. "She's tryin' to take care of you an' keep you outta trouble."

"She gets in a  _lot_ of trouble," Susie said in a tone of longsuffering.

"They always do," Frank agreed, turning down an alley and then another alley until he stopped beside an apartment building. He leaned forward and looked up, watching the rooftops as he redialed Claire. "We're here. In the alley."

"Be right there," Claire replied without missing a beat — and it only took a few minutes before Frank could see her half dragging Matt down to the alley to join them.

"Hang tight, girls, I'm gonna help her with Matt." Frank pulled the keys and slipped out of the van to make his way over and more or less picked Matt up to carry him to the van.

"Who called  _you_ in?" Matt asked — not quite an accusation, but he didn't know where the girls had even  _been_.

"Nobody. As usual," Frank said. "Saw 'em gettin' dragged into Gnucci's place. Wasn't gonna have it."

"Gnucci?" Matt repeated with a frown. "What the hell…"

"Yeah, apparently these girls have a contract on 'em," Frank said. "So where the hell's Wolverine while his kid's gettin' chased down?"

"Canada," Matt said, shaking his head. "Probably chasing down the people who put the contract out. Didn't tell  _me_ about it."

"Well, if he's in Canada, he's lookin' in the wrong place."

"Clearly."

Frank got Matt in the van with little fanfare — but that just set off a round of  _concerned_ questions from the girls, who were all over Matt asking him about how hurt he was and did he need an ice pack and if he wanted, he could have ice cream because that's what  _they_ got when they were hurt…

"I'm  _fine_ ," Matt said, shaking his head at them both.

"Nuh-uh. You got shot," Susie insisted. "You need  _fluids_."

Claire got in the van and gestured with one hand to Susie. "The grade schooler gets it."

"Don't encourage her."

"Nah, I think you should listen to 'em," Frank said, smirking to himself as he got them moving. "They already got more sense than you do."

"That's because I'm gonna be a doctor when I grow up," Susie said proudly.

Katie rolled her eyes. "She thinks she's a doctor  _now_."

"Well, she's not wrong," Claire said. "He does need fluids. He lost a lot of blood."

"Yeah, you can tell 'cause he's pale," Susie said, nodding seriously.

Claire couldn't stop her smile Susie's way. "That's right. You really know your stuff."

"I've been working with my dad," Susie said, grinning up at Claire. "He's a doctor, you know."

"Where did you find them, Matt?" Claire asked, laughing at the two girls.

"They're my goddaughters," Matt said.

"You mean someone thought you … is this a religious thing?" Claire asked.

Matt shaded his eyes with one hand. "Why is it so hard for everyone to believe that someone would ask me to be godfather?"

"I just wanna know whose Idea it was," Frank said.

"My daddy's," Katie said brightly. "My daddy said he had to help 'cause he helped rescue us."

Frank started laughing outright at that. "Now I've heard everything."

"Shut up," Matt grumbled.

"Hey come on, Red. How was I supposed to know you an' Wolverine were so close?"

"He called me up when Kingpin grabbed these girls, okay?"

"I was wonderin' if that was him," Frank said, nodding. "Good."

"Yeah, Daddy stabbed him," Katie agreed.

"He does that to a lot of creeps," Frank said.

"Yeah, he said what you said about how if they're grabbing girls, then they don't get to live anymore," Katie told him matter-of-factly.

"He ain't wrong there, kiddo."

"Oh, come on," Matt said.

"Hey, that's one thing he an' I have never argued about," Frank said. "You don't mess with kids. Period."

"Yeah, Matt, they were really bad guys," Katie assured him.

"So, now what?" Susie asked quietly. "Those bad guys trashed Matt's house."

"Now, we're gonna get you somewhere safe where none of Gnucci's people — or anyone else — are gonna come looking." Frank looked up at Matt in the rear view. "You got any bright ideas, hero?"

"Yeah," Matt said after a second's thought. "Luke Cage."

"You're kiddin', right?"

"Not even a little. He knows the girls have trouble following them," Matt said. "And he punked out of chipping into babysitting," he added, this time with a quiet smirk.

"Big tough guy afraid of little girls? Sounds about right," Frank said, nodding to himself. "Alright. I'll get you there, then I'm headed back. Cover you."

"Are you gonna go fight those bad guys again?" Katie asked Frank before Matt could say anything.

"Yeah. Yeah, I am."

"By  _yourself_?" she asked incredulously.

"That's how I work, kiddo."

"But you  _said_ you're not a superhero," Katie said, sounding concerned. "What if you need help?"

"That's right; I'm not a hero," Frank said. "And I don't need any help."

"Um, everyone needs help," Katie said. "Even my daddy. That's how come he's bringing my mom with him to Canada."

"I haven't met your mom," Frank said. "But I don't need help."

"Nuh-uh." Katie drew herself up tall. "They  _shot_ my Matt. You gotta be  _careful_."

"Don't worry, pretty girl," Frank said, smirking at her. "I'll be fine. You just keep your head down and listen to your Matt."

Katie narrowed his eyes at him. "O-kay, but if you get hurt, I'm gonna be mad at you, because I like you, and I don't  _like_ when my friends get hurt."

"And our friends are X-Men and Avengers, so they get hurt lots," Susie said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, so no gettin' hurt!" Katie said, pointing at Frank.

Frank didn't bother trying to hide his smirk. "Yes, ma'am."

Katie burst into giggles, hiding behind her hands — especially when no one in the van corrected him on letting her have her way. "I like Frank," she whispered behind her hands to Matt.

"It's because he agrees with you," Matt whispered back.

"Uh-huh!" Katie giggled all over again.

"Now  _shhhhh_." Susie gave Matt a severe look. "You're s'pposed to be resting, and you should drink water an' stuff."

"Oh, man, I am so glad I got to see this," Frank said, clearly  _far_ too amused.

"Shut up, Frank."

"No can do, Red," Frank said as he found a parking spot for them. "I don't take orders from you." He looked up to the rearview mirror. "Isn't that right, Katie?"

"Uh-huh. I'm in charge!" Katie sang out happily.

"You sure are," Frank said.

"Well  _I'm_ older," Susie complained.

"And you're busy watching out for Matt," Claire said.

"Yeah, that's important, Susie," Katie agreed seriously.

Susie glanced between them and then at Matt and then stuck her finger in Matt's face. "Okay, but you gotta  _listen_."

"Seriously. I'm keeping them," Claire said, not even bothering to hide her glee.

"Pretty sure you'll have to fight K for them," Matt said.

"I've never met her, but I'm actually seriously considering it if this works on you  _and_  your insane friends."

"That would be something," Matt said.

"No one can beat Mom," Katie said confidently. "Not even Dad!"

"I'd like to see  _that_ ," Frank chuckled before he turned to Matt. "You need me to carry you up, or is your buddy gonna come get ya?"

"Those are my only options?"

"If you could get yourself goin', you would have already," Frank pointed out.

Matt sighed. "Fine," he said. "Claire, can you tell Luke he's got to get up off his—" He paused, and then Katie burst into giggles, which had Matt grinning because he knew she had a worse potty mouth than he did when she was mad. "Yeah, that."

Claire was still  _clearly_ entertained by watching Matt with the girls as she headed up to go get Luke — who came down to the van not long after looking both amused by the girls and unamused by the situation, somehow at the same time.

"Hi again, Luke!" Katie called out to him, waving with one hand. "We got in trouble again. Matt got shot."

"Yeah, I heard," Luke said, shaking his head with a solid frown before he helped Matt out of the car. "C'mon, girls."

"Thanks, Mr. Frank!" Katie said, crawling up to the front seat to give Frank a hug. "Thanks for getting us away from the bad guys."

"Just keep your heads down, girls," Frank said as he pulled her in for a good hug. "Don't want any of those creeps to get too close now."

"Okay," Katie said, snuggling him in good and tight. "And you be careful too, okay? Don't get hurt, please!"

"Yeah, don't worry, Katie. I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Okay," Katie said, making sure to look him in the eye before she gave him a careful kiss on his cheek and finally climbed out of the van to catch up to Susie and Matt and Luke.


	6. Can I Braid Your Hair?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we have one more Defender to introduce to the girls.

 

* * *

By the time Katie left Frank to catch up with the others, Susie was already ordering Matt around on how he was supposed to be taking it easy, which at least had Luke entertained, even if he was obviously  _not_ happy about how much trouble they were getting into with such young kids involved.

But Katie completely misinterpreted Luke's expression and rushed over to hug him tightly around the knees. "It's okay," she told him earnestly. "My Matt's gonna be okay! He's got lots of people looking out for him!"

"Yeah, he does, and he always seems to get in trouble anyway, huh?" Luke said in a sigh, finally reaching down so he could pick her up. "What happened? You girls okay?"

Katie nodded and gave him her best, most reassuring smile — even if Luke could still see the tracks on her dirty face from where she'd been crying when the mobsters grabbed her. "We're okay. It was pretty scary, but we're okay now."

"You sure?" Luke asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, except Susie was really scared," Kate told him seriously.

"Just Susie?"

"Well…" Kate hedged and then leaned forward seriously. "I was a little bit scared too."

Luke nodded thoughtfully. "Alright. Let's get you and your sister set up, huh? This place ain't exactly built for little kids, but we'll figure something out."

Katie nodded and then let out a pitiful little sniffle, positively melting into Luke in a tight hug that he couldn't help but return, especially when she was obviously still terrified and pretending not to be. "I don't wanna get got again," she mumbled into his shoulder.

Luke patted her back gently. "No one's gonna get you again, alright?"

Katie pushed out her lower lip. "They smashed up my Matt's window and door and stuff!"

Luke sighed. "Yeah, they do that."

"It was really scary," Katie said, finally starting to let her emotions show through as she scrubbed at her face.

"Yeah, they're like that," Luke said. "But, you know, now that you're back, you can help your sister make over Matt, right?" he added, trying to redirect her before she could get too worked up again.

Katie sniffled pitifully and then glanced over to where Susie was gleefully helping Claire with Matt. "She wantsta be a doctor."

"Think she'll be any good?"

Katie rolled her eyes dramatically. " _No_ ," she said. "She's just a  _sister_. Duh."

"Right. Of course. How could I forget," Luke said dryly, shaking his head.

Once Luke and Katie sat down to watch the show as Claire worked Matt over and directed Susie on whatever she needed — which was entertaining on its own because Matt couldn't complain or fight them on getting patched up when  _Susie_ was having a blast living her dream to become a doctor — Katie finally started to slow down as well. It was late, starting to creep into "wee hours of the morning" instead of "late into the night," so no one was surprised that the teeniest Bishop girl was starting to drift off — but she was fighting her exhaustion with everything she had.

Every time Katie's head would droop down to her chest, she would quickly pick it back up again, her eyes wide as she looked around the room, as if she was worried that she might have missed something. Then, she'd start to relax, leaning heavily into Luke's shoulder… and then jerk awake again.

After the third time she did that, Luke let out a sigh and ducked his head to try and catch her attention. "Hey, you know it's alright to fall asleep, right? They're just patchin' Matt up. No big deal. You're not gonna miss anything."

But at that, Katie started to shake her head vehemently, her lower lip pushed out. "Nuh-uh," she said softly. "What if I fall asleep and the bad guys come back?"

Luke frowned. He hadn't heard the whole story of what had happened to the girls yet because he didn't want to press Matt for details in front of two scared little kids, but the little bits and pieces that he was picking up from the girls so far had him convinced he needed to go to war over this. "You're gonna be fine, Katie," he told her gruffly. "Nobody's gettin' in here."

Katie shook her head and let out a pathetic-sounding sniffle — though Luke was starting to wonder how many of those sniffles were real and how many this girl who was too smart for her own good was using to scam people out of hugs and attention — before she hid her face in Luke's shoulder again.

And yeah, sure, some of the crying earlier might have been little-kid dramatics, but this felt a lot more real, so Luke decided to keep his mouth shut and simply curl around Katie until she stopped crying.

Finally, when she was done, he dipped his head and tipped her chin up with the crook of his index finger. "Hey, listen," he said, "nobody's coming after you tonight, alright? You've got a whole lotta people on your side. Matt even got shot lookin' out for you. There's nothin' anybody here wouldn't do to keep you girls safe, alright?"

Katie rubbed her eyes and nodded. "Yeah, but it's scary."

"I bet it is," Luke agreed.

"Matt told us to hide under the bed," Katie said, though she was obviously tired and leaning against Luke's shoulder again. "That was really scary."

Now that Katie had her eyes closed, Luke allowed himself to glare at the thought of the two little girls hiding in the dark and hoping not to be found. "Nobody shoulda come after you girls like that."

"Bad guys're mean," Katie told him tiredly, patting his chest with one hand like  _she_ was trying to comfort  _him_. "Daddy says that's just how things are, and you gotta make sure they regret it or they'll keep doing it."

"He's not wrong there."

Katie smiled at that. "Are you gonna get shot too if I go to sleep?"

Luke let his shoulders drop when he heard it. Little kids could get to the weirdest places with their own twisted kind of logic. "First off, Matt didn't get shot 'cause you went to sleep, alright? He got shot because the bad guys knew they couldn't stop him otherwise."

Katie frowned but nodded. "Okay."

"And second of all…" He paused and slipped into a grin just for her. "Bullets can't hurt me."

"Really?" Katie's eyebrows shot up, and she suddenly looked more awake as she looked him over, like she was trying to figure out where he was hiding his superpower. "Really really?"

"Really really," he confirmed. "Do you know what 'invulnerable' means?"

Katie scrunched up her nose. "That sounds like a Dr. Blue word."

Luke had to laugh at that. "Yeah, probably," he agreed. "But, look, it means that I can't get hurt. The bad guys could shoot at me all day if they wanted, and I'd shrug it off and hit 'em with their own guns. So me and my  _invulnerability_ are gonna be watching out for you and your sister and your Matt while you're asleep, alright? Nobody's gonna get to you or me or anyone else — you get me?"

Katie still looked awed, but she nodded slowly. "Uh-huh."

"Good." Luke leaned back with her and answered a few questions about other stuff that he was "nuhvunable" too, but with every question Katie asked, it was pretty clear she was relaxing.

And then, finally, she drifted off with her head on his shoulder, and for the life of him, Luke wasn't going to move if he didn't have to — not for how hard it had been to get her to relax enough to fall asleep in the first place.

* * *

No one was surprised, considering the night they'd all just had, when the Bishop girls slept in until the afternoon of the next day. No one had the heart to wake them up, though eventually, Luke had to make his escape from under Katie so he could actually  _do_ stuff instead of sitting there being used as a pillow.

Katie had  _almost_ woken up when Luke moved, and all three of the adults in the house had practically held their breaths until Katie fell back into a deeper sleep. Then, they all relaxed and collectively tried to pretend that they hadn't just been tiptoeing around because of one tired Kindergartener.

The one hiccough in the plan to let the girls spend the day in peaceful silence, though, came when Luke got a not-unexpected visitor.

Jessica Jones let herself in to Luke's place and tossed her keys on the counter. He'd known that she was coming, and he'd even been looking forward to seeing her, but in the mess of everything that had happened, he hadn't thought ahead to warn her.

And now, there she was standing in his entryway and looking at two very little girls sleeping on Luke's couch — and at a wincing, bandaged Matt, a smirking Claire, and an almost-sheepish Luke who was just now realizing the one  _very important detail_ he'd forgotten to take care of when he answered the late-night call for help.

"What the hell?" Jessica was staring at Luke in obvious shock, and Matt didn't even bother to hide his grin — he was just happy to hear that someone else was going to get an earful over these girls.

"Long story," Luke said with an open-handed shrug.

"No kidding," she said, shaking her head, though she was suddenly much quieter and more careful about coming over to the kitchen to join the others. "What the hell?"

"Ask Matt."

Jessica didn't even hesitate to turn herself Matt's way, though her tone when she asked the question was exactly the same as every time before: "What the hell?"

"They're my goddaughters."

"Who the f-"

"Why is it that  _everyone_ has the same reaction to hearing I've got goddaughters?" Matt asked absolutely no one in particular, pinching his forehead and shaking his head. "Is it really that hard to believe?"

"Yes. Obviously," Jessica said.

"You're a real confidence booster."

"Not my job."

Matt smirked, still shaking his head. "I was just supposed to watch them while their parents are out of town," he explained. "But someone put a reward out for 'em."

" _Why_. They're practically babies." Jessica shook her head, her gaze toward the couches. "Who did it? Do you know yet?"

"Frank has—"

"Oh God," Jessica said, rolling her eyes before Matt could get any further into that sentence.

"No kidding," Matt said dryly. "Look, it's been a long night for all of us."

"Because some idiot made you a godfather," Jessica said, still shaking her head over that particular revelation.

"Wolverine, actually," Luke put in, grinning widely over her reaction.

"Oh God."

Luke was honestly starting to laugh by that point, especially because Matt kept looking more and more like he wanted to hit everyone there. "Yep, that was pretty much my reaction too."

"Oh  _God_."

Luke snorted out loud. "Yep."

"I hate all of you," Matt said, still pinching his forehead and looking like he'd have given anything not to have to pull the two of them into helping him take care of his goddaughters.

"Good thing none of us care about that," Luke said, still laughing to himself as Jessica finally sat down beside him and he grinned with his arm over the back of her chair.

"So, you're babysitting high-value  _goddaughter_ targets," Jessica said. "Not exactly what I was thinking when I dropped by."

"I'll make it up to you later," Luke promised.

"I'll hold you to that."

Luke grinned wider at that, though before he could say anything else, there was a little noise from the living room, and all four of the adults looked up in time to see that Susie had finally woken up — she had been the first to fall asleep, so that made sense — and was making her way over to the kitchen. Her hair was a mess, and she looked like she'd been tossing and turning and crying all night (and she had), and she went right to Matt when she got to the kitchen. She obviously trusted him the most out of everyone, and as was often the case when someone new was around, she hid in his arms and barely peeked out at Jessica, who was watching the whole interaction with a look of sheer disbelief that said she hadn't expected the little girls to be so…  _cuddly_ with Matt.

Susie watched Jessica for a long while before she tugged on Matt's sleeve, and he dipped his head closer to her so she could whisper in his ear: "Who's that?"

"She's a friend," Matt told her quietly. "Want to say hi?"

Susie shook her head shyly, hiding in Matt's arms again, though she didn't take her gaze off of Jessica. Eventually, she tugged on Matt's sleeve again and whispered in his ear — and got him to grin when he heard it.

"Susie says your hair is pretty," Matt said, completely straight-faced until he'd finished saying it — and then he was grinning as Susie shyly waved from behind the safety of his arms.

Jessica blinked in surprise, still trying to get over seeing Matt in  _godfather mode_ , but then she nodded. "Thanks. Yours is too."

Susie smiled shyly again, though this time, she didn't use Matt as a go-between as she whispered, "Can I braid it?"

Jessica blinked again. "What?"

"I like to braid hair 'n' stuff," Susie said, still in that same whisper. "I do my sister's all the time."

Jessica's eyebrows were high on her forehead, but, of course, the boys were absolutely no help to her — especially since they'd never had to deal with that particular request. So, finally, Jessica shrugged. "How about I braid yours?" she offered. "You've got a little bedhead."

Susie hesitantly reached up to run her fingers through her tangled hair. "Only if you promise not to pull my hair," she said, though she was hiding a little bit behind Matt again.

Jessica did her best to look as approachable and gentle and not-hair-pulling as possible. "I promise."

Susie glanced up at Matt for confirmation, and when he nodded to her — signalling that she could, in fact, trust Jessica — Susie slid off of his lap and quietly came to sit next to Jessica.

Which was how Jessica found herself braiding a little girl's hair in the middle of Luke's kitchen. Because this was apparently her life now.


	7. Thanks for the Warning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, the parents had to come get their kids eventually, right?

 

* * *

When Logan and K got back to New York at last, they were both still furious over what Jaxon had tried to pull.

The guy was a big name in the Department and had been a thorn in Mac Hudson's side for ages — and he was willing to go well beyond the normal bounds of decency to save his own hide. So the second he'd heard that Logan and K were coming after him, he'd tried to divert them by putting out a reward for their kids.

The reward was higher for the girls in particular, because they were already targets in their own right, yes, but also because Jaxon knew that the younger targets, especially  _little girls,_ would usually get Logan running to save them.

So Jaxon was even more screwed when Logan and K did finally catch up to him, and they made sure he regretted putting a target on their girls.

Once that was done, they'd called ahead to Matt and somehow weren't surprised to hear that he wasn't home. But they'd heard the girls squealing with laughter, including Katie giggling with Danny, which wasn't surprising either. They were absolutely expecting to find the girls running circles around Matt and his friends.

And they weren't disappointed.

When they got to Luke's place, Katie was "squaring off" with Danny, who was obviously teaching her some martial arts moves — though she kept falling apart in giggles and then attaching to Danny's leg in a hug, so the lesson wasn't going too well. And Susie was camped out by Claire and Matt, importantly making sure Matt was eating food and entertaining Claire to no end.

But when the door opened and Katie saw her parents standing there, she squealed and quickly let go of Danny to come tumbling toward them so she could throw herself at Logan, her arms outstretched as she shouted, " _Daddy!_ "

"Hey lil' darlin'," Logan said with a smirk as he caught her up and tossed her a second before she latched onto him around his neck. "You take over the Defenders when we were gone?"

"Uh-huh!" Katie said brightly, then kissed his cheek.

"Danny-boy teachin' you a buncha kun-lun crap?"

"Uh-huh!" Katie giggled and glanced over her shoulder at Danny, who was smirking hard and shaking his head at her.

"She's actually got it down when she's not laughing," he said.

"Of course she does," Logan scoffed. "You don't think that's all she knows, do you?"

"Yeah, no," Danny said, almost laughing. "I recognized some of her stances and forms. You raising up an army over there I should be worried about?"

Logan leaned his head forward so that he and Katie were touching foreheads. "You hear that, darlin'? He's already afraid you're gonna kick his trash."

Katie burst out laughing. "'Cause I am!"

"Attagirl," he said before he gave her a little squeeze and set her down so she could buzz around the room a few times. "Dealt with the problem," Logan told Matt.

"So did we," Luke put in, one eyebrow raised and his arms crossed. "You know some idiot put out a reward on your girls, right?"

"And I killed him," Logan said.

"Logan…" Matt said, but Katie beat him to it.

"It's 'cause of how he was gonna hurt little kids, and that takes you straight ta hell!" she sang out.

"He was asking for it, really," K said as Susie hugged her and tickled James' feet. "And all his little friends."

"Did James get in danger too?" Susie asked, obviously concerned about her baby brother.

"In his own way," K said, nodding her head. "He stayed with Heather and Mac while we fixed the trouble, so he was getting snuggled and kissed half to death by dirty, stinking Canadians."

"Damnit, woman," Logan breathed out, making it clear that this had been the tease for the whole time.

Katie giggled and looked up at Luke. "My mom is silly."

"Your mom is right," Luke said without missing a beat.

"Ooooh, I like you already," K said brightly, smiling his way. "Smart man."

"Just knows who's in charge," Jessica said, smirking from where she was sitting on the couch and watching the whole thing go down.

"Uh-huh," Katie said helpfully. "Mr. Frank said I'm in charge, and everybody listened!"

Logan frowned at that but didn't comment as K turned toward Katie. "I don't remember a Mr. Frank on my list of possible contacts."

Susie was still hovering close to K as she nodded. "He had a lotta gun stuff in his car," she reported solemnly. "But he also got us away from the bad guys, so Katie likes 'im."

"Guns aren't always bad, Susie-sweetie-pie," K said. "I like guns too."

"Yeah but it was  _lots_ of gun stuff," Susie said.

"I like Mr. Frank," Katie piped up. "He left me in charge!"

"Everyone already knew that, Katie," Matt said, getting a  _huge_ grin out of the little girl. "We all know you're going to be an X-Man-Avenger when you grow up, remember?"

"Uh-huh. And I'm gonna teach James how too, just like my Clint is gonna teach me!"

As Katie came over to say hi to James, K couldn't help but put a hand on her head and smile slyly toward Luke and Jessica. "Maybe she wants to be a part-time Defender, too, now. I'll bet you wouldn't say no to a tiny butt-kicker to lead the charge now and again."

"I'm all for it," Jessica said, still smirking. "Break up the testosterone."

"Oooh, Jess taught us that word yesterday," Susie giggled. "It means dumb boys."

"It's a kind of blood poisoning that boys get," K stage whispered.

Susie giggled. "Well, Miss Claire said everyone's got some, but boys have  _too much_."

"Boys get too much, and it poisons their  _brain_ ," K said, nodding.

"You know what, none of this is surprising me," Luke said dryly, gesturing between K and the girls. "This explains those girls so much."

"No, they were smart when we got them," K said, which had Susie grinning wider.

"Nice." Luke chuckled. "Man did Logan get lucky with you."

"Right. I didn't meet this group yet," K said, making her way over with James as Susie stuck close and Katie ran circles around them. "I'm K, this is James, and you're tall dark and …."

"Luke," he supplied for her, still grinning. "You've met Matt, and that's his keeper, Claire."

"He's not wrong," Claire chuckled.

"Tough job," K said, waving her way.

Matt was shaking his head. "She's a nurse," he tried to explain.

"That explains so much," K said sweetly. "You should take her to Hawaii for all you put her through."

"Oh, I like her," Claire laughed.

"Oooh, if you go to Hawaii, you can say hi to Mister Scott's brother!" Katie said, bouncing back over. "My Clint told me all about him and how they got separated an' stuff!"

"We're not going to Hawaii, Katie," Matt said.

"Why not?" K asked. "Do you have something against getting wasted on the beach?"

"He's very Catholic," Claire teased.

"Which is why he should  _like_ getting wasted on the beach," K said, as if it was perfectly obvious.

Luke was laughing hard by that time. "Where did you find her and why haven't you introduced us sooner?" he demanded of Logan.

"This is exactly why," Logan said.

"He's selfish, that's why," K said.

"Nuh-uh," Katie said, sticking her tongue out. "My daddy's the bestest there is!"

"He sure is," K agreed, booping her nose. "But he doesn't like to share  _us_  very much."

"Has more to do with the people after her," Logan said. "And I'm busy."

"Sure," Jessica said dryly. "But just so you know, you deprived me of kids that can make these idiots do anything they say, and I'm holding that against you. I haven't laughed this much in  _years_."

"Like I said," Logan replied. "I've been busy."

K gave him a troublemaking look and headed over to Jessica to unceremoniously slip James to her. "Meet 'busy.' And keep in mind there are two older boys, too."

"Yeah, we've heard all about them," Jessica said, rearranging herself to smile down at James, who was staring up at her wide-eyed and being very quiet and snuggly. "The way Katie goes on about her Clint, you'd think he was a rock star."

"She's smitten with her big brother," K said.

"Clearly." Jessica smirked and ran a finger over James' cheek, which had the little boy smiling crookedly at her. "Five kids. You must be insane."

"Well-documented," Logan said with an unconcerned tone.

Jessica was still smiling down at James as Luke made a noise that couldn't quite be distinguished and came to sit down on her other side — when there was a knock at the door and then Frank let himself in.

" _Mr. Frank!_ " Katie let out a delighted sound and all but launched herself at her new friend.

"Hey, Katie," Frank said almost distractedly as he put his hand on her back and glanced up — only to frown deeply when he saw Logan there with the others. "I came in to let  _Matt_ here know that the contract was cancelled."

"That happens when the guy that put it out dies suddenly," Logan replied, not looking concerned at all as he held Frank's gaze.

"Yeah, well, I'm still tryin' to figure out what kind of a moron leaves a couple of little girls with a blind guy for protection while he's off—"

Before he could get any further, K had slipped over to Frank and popped up on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Thanks for the help you gave the girls. If I'd known you were involved, I would have found you and talked to you myself before all this mess." As she stepped back, she took a hold of his arm and pulled him deeper into Luke's place. "You should meet our little boy before you get too far into it."

Frank was  _clearly_ taken entirely off his rant — and though he looked like he was rallying, that disappeared when K took James back from Jessica one-handed and slipped him to Frank in a seamless move. "Please, Mr. Castiglione. You met the girls; you should meet James too." K turned to Katie with a little smile. "Right, girls?"

Katie nodded, helpfully grinning up at Frank to tell him, "That's my baby brother. I'm gonna teach him how to be a hero when he gets big."

"Because she's in charge of all the boys," Jessica said, still obviously entertained.

Frank was stuck between holding the little boy, putting up with Jessica Jones' crap, and the subtle  _bomb_ K had hit him with by using his given name — not his alias. "Your husband tell you who I was?" Frank asked finally.

"Didn't have to. I do my own research," K replied with a polite smile in place.

"Mom's smart," Susie said with a proud grin.

"And I didn't know that one anyhow," Logan said. "Didn't really care."

"Right." Frank looked between the two Howletts and then down at James, who was still perfectly calm and not fussy at all.

"We're in no rush to head back, so take your time," K said. "I'm sure the girls want to say goodbye  _properly_."

"Yeah, you need hugs," Katie agreed. "And maybe ice cream. 'Cause if you beat bad guys, you get ice cream."

"That's Katie and Clint's rule," Susie said, rolling her eyes. " _My_ dad gives you Twinkies if you get hurt."

"Did you get hurt, Frank?" K asked, smirking again — as Jessica started to smile wider.

"Nah," Frank said, shaking his head quickly. "I'm fine."

"Nuh-uh!" Katie said, her eyes wide. "You went an' fought all those bad guys yourself — and you  _can't lie_ to Mom! She knows!"

"Does she now?" Frank said with as severe a look as he could muster for the girls.

Katie nodded and then attached to his leg. "You're silly, Mr. Frank."

"That's never gonna get old," Luke whispered to Matt, who was laughing to himself.

"Have you gotten medical attention?" K asked Frank, already glancing toward Claire.

Susie gasped delightedly. "I can help!" she said, almost dancing in place. "I can do it! I  _can_!"

K picked James up from Frank and handed him to Luke this time — just because he looked like he was ready to break down laughing. "And if he tries to argue it, I'll hold him down for you, Katie."

Katie burst out laughing, clutching her stomach as she fell flat on her bum. "You hear that, Mr. Frank? You  _gotta_!"

"She's not joking, Castle," Logan said. "Let Claire take a look or she'll put you on the ground."

"Turnabout," Matt muttered under his breath, and Claire smacked his arm.

"I'm not fighting with you," Frank said as K stepped back to give him room to head over to Claire — but only for him to go toward Claire.

"Another smart man. I like this place," K said with a smile that Katie echoed.

"Yeah, that settles it. You and the girls are welcome anytime," Jessica said, breaking into a quiet laugh.

"Can we please?" Katie asked. "I like Matt's friends. And Jessica braided my hair, see?" She turned around to show K the braid in her long, black hair. "She did Susie's too!"

"That's lovely," K said. "I didn't know you had a hair braiding party when I was gone. It's too bad Mr. Frank couldn't play with that too." She dropped her voice to a stage whisper. "But the fuzzy buzz cut is fun to play with."

"Oooh, that sounds fun!" Katie said, already tumbling over herself to go investigate Frank's head — and nearly killing Matt with laughter in the process.

"Ay," Frank said, catching her up as she climbed up — clearly intent on rubbing his fuzzy head. "You don't need to do that."

"Yes I do," Katie said, practically nose to nose with him.

"Left shoulder, right leg just above the knee on the outside, and I'll bet there are some rib issues," K said as she watched Frank move — and then freeze on hearing it — though it was the quick list for Claire, not really a threat.

Katie gasped. "Do you need kisses?" she asked Frank, obviously concerned.

Frank was shaking his head and saying "no" as K replied with an "absolutely."

"You need kisses," Katie decided and then gave his shoulder a kiss and snuggled him on his right side — being careful about where he was hurt.

"You do this all the time?" Frank asked K, looking honestly half-angry and half-concerned.

"Just when the guy going into medical is a hard head that doesn't want to admit when he's hurt," K said, then tipped her head. "So … yeah. Pretty regular."

"'Specially when it's Daddy or Mister Scott," Katie said.

"Yeah, they're blockheads," Susie said, making a face — and getting another snort of laughter out of Luke.

"Sounds like you've got plenty to deal with too," Claire teased Susie. "No wonder you're so good at this."

"Logan's easy," Susie said. "'Cause he heals up fast. And K'll  _make_ him fix it if he's bein' too slow. But that's why I'm so good with floo-ds an' bandages. I get to help a  _lot_  with Mister Scott and the other X-Men, too."

"Atta girl," Luke chuckled.

"Only if it's minor," K corrected, for Claire's benefit more than the others.

Claire nodded at that. "Considering what you all get up to, 'minor' is relative," she teased.

"Minor to  _most_ people," K said. "I would throw a box of bandages at Scott for most of the little scrape-ups he gets and tell him to walk it off. But Susie likes to help."

"I'm gonna be a doctor," Susie agreed.

"You sure are," Claire laughed.

By that time, Katie had left Frank to Claire's mercy and made her way back over to Logan to hold her hands up for him to pick her up again, then laid her head on his shoulder. "I missed you," she whispered, finally starting to slow down from all the excitement.

"Are you sure?" Logan teased, letting her snuggle in. "Looks like you had plenty to keep busy."

"Yeah, but there were bad guys, and I got scared," she said.

Logan wrapped her up a little better at that. "You should know I wouldn't leave you with anyone that couldn't keep up, right?"

"They shot my Matt," she said, sticking her lower lip out.

"Yeah? Is that where Frank came in?"

Katie nodded. "Uh-huh. He helped us ressue Matt too!"

"You see anything you shouldn't have?"

"No, he said to close our eyes, so we did, like we're s'pposed to."

"Good girl," Logan said, nodding — though he was watching Frank, who nodded once, confirming the story. "And what about the other goofballs?"

"Danny saved me from some ninjas!" Katie picked her head up and made some ninja noises and poses.

"Arrow could save you from ninjas," Logan scoffed.

"But not as cool as Danny did. He looks like my Clint, huh? I told him so."

"It's a good thing your brother likes purple and not yellow or they'll be tradin' off bad guys all the time, won't they?" Logan teased.

Danny shrugged easily. "Sounds right," he said, having long ago resigned himself to being compared to the duck fluff.

Logan waited to leave until K was done quietly 'talking' with Frank — keeping their conversation private from pretty much everyone in the room but Logan by chatting through a series of military hand signals so she could get the  _whole_ story without scaring the girls. Before it was done, she'd pickpocketed his phone — just to do it — and put her number in it with instructions to call her directly if there was a whisper of anything about the Bishop girls  _anywhere_. She waited until Claire was done though — if nothing else, to throw him off his game again when he got to his feet and she gave him a careful hug that the girls came over to join in on.

"Thanks for helpin'," Katie said sincerely.

"Hey, I had to," Frank said gruffly. "You know the rule, right?"

Katie nodded seriously. "Yeah. Bad guys grabbing little kids are dead."

"I can't believe I let him anywhere near my goddaughters," Matt grumbled.

"I like him," K said. "Good choice, Matt. Even if someone else made it for you."

"Not exactly my choice then, is it?" he pointed out with a smirk.

"Where the hell'd you  _find_ her?" Frank asked, still honestly looking a little confused.

"On gossamer angel wings!" Susie blurted out — and then fell apart laughing at her own joke.

"Snatched her away from Weapon X," Logan replied.

"Which explains a lot," Frank said with a nod.

K stepped back for the girls to swarm Claire and Frank … then Matt and Danny on their way to give Luke and Jessica kisses and hugs, though as K passed Danny, who was watching the girls mob his best friend, she reached up and ran her hand through his hair entirely the wrong way, right from the back of his head past his face with a very clear "quack quack" that had the girls positively falling apart.

"Duck fluff?" Danny guessed, already reaching up to flatten his hair.

"Oh yeah," K confirmed, nodding her head as Katie started quacking and skipping with Susie.

"Still not entirely sure where that came from," Danny said.

"Take a look at a baby duck, then look at your head. It's pretty self-explanatory," K said — which had Frank and Matt laughing, especially since the girls were still quacking.

"Yeah, that's it. You need to bring your girls over more," Luke told Logan. "You've been holding out on us this whole time, and the secret's out now."

K picked up James from Luke. "We'll be in touch," she promised.

"I'll hold you to that."


	8. Meanwhile at the Circus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the girls have been running a racket on the Defenders, what have the Barton boys been up to?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, on a personal note, the two of us are finally publishing original fiction together!! WHAT???? We're writing under the pseudonym C. C. Robbie and our first book just published today. It's called "The Last Blaze" and we are REALLY STINKIN EXCITED ABOUT IT.

 

* * *

When Logan and K had decided to go up to Canada, they'd taken the Bishop girls to their godfather, but Clint got to stay with his brother.

_And he loved it._

He had always liked getting to come visit Barney at the circus and see him perform, but this time, he was actually spending the night with Barney and his other family. And since Miranda had  _just_ had her baby girl, Clint got to help out a lot, since he and Barney had practice with James and with the Summers kids, and Barney was doing a solo act under the big top while Miranda recovered.

Clint was glad he got to help out, too. He was good at little sisters.

Little Lana had just fallen asleep a few minutes ago, so he was trying to be quiet as he snuck out of the trailer — though when he saw that Barney was  _kissing_ Ana, the trapeze artist he had a crush on, he made a face and redirected to go play with the targets instead.

Barney had done some pretty cool knife tricks for his show, but Clint wanted to practice archery. He had to keep doing it or he'd get rusty, and then Barney would be better than him, and he  _couldn't have that_.

He went through a whole quiver making designs out of the alignment of arrows before he finally ran out and had to head down to the target to collect the arrows. He spotted movement just beyond the practice range and paused, frowning hard as he looked around. It hadn't been that long ago that Erik had killed Sinister or that his sister had been grabbed by Hydra, so Clint was still a little edgy.

But when he didn't see anyone for a long while, he sighed and shook his head to himself. Maybe he was still panicking a lot. Logan had said it might take him a while to stop being so jumpy.

Clint started pulling the arrows out of the target, though this time, he was sure he'd  _heard_ something when he paused again and nocked an arrow.

It was still kind of wild to have good hearing again and not to be deaf in one ear. But Clint was glad for it, because he was  _sure_ someone was there that shouldn't have been. He just didn't know if it was a kid sneaking around the circus at night or something worse.

"Who's there?" he called out, raising his bow as he looked around.

The circus was, well, relatively quiet around him. It wasn't perfectly silent, either, but the place always seemed to be crawling with life. Clint could hear the lions snoring beyond where he was, and he could hear some of the stage hands talking back and forth further out.

Clint had just started to relax when he heard the lions switch from snoring to a light growl, and he spun that way just in time to see a guy in a black uniform that he recognized.

And, look, he wanted to be an X-Man and an Avenger. He really did. But there was  _no way_ he wasn't shooting someone from the  _Department_ in the face, no matter what the rules were about kill shots.

Just like that, another four guys seemed to appear out of nowhere, and Clint was barely keeping his breathing under control as he grabbed another arrow and fired. These guys were moving fast, but they hadn't pulled the guns that they had on their hips yet, which kind of freaked Clint out more, because he didn't want the Department coming after him to  _capture_ him either.

The next few shots were a little more controlled than the first reflexive one. He went for disarming ones at first, but the men still managed to surround him. As soon as one of them got close, Clint grabbed his knife instead and jammed it into the guy's family jewels — so he wasn't going to be a problem either.

The next guy to try to grab him got a bow in the face and an arrow in the chest, and the last two went down with arrows as well, leaving Clint standing there shaking and panting and still terrified out of his mind as he looked around for the next guy.

He hadn't even  _thought_ about it. And suddenly, he realized that all that training with his mom and dad had seriously paid off.

And from a distance, far out of Clint's range, the sniper out of the little strike force watched the whole thing with an amused expression on his face. "A whole strike team being taken down by a ten-year-old," Maverick said into his comm to the team below, shaking his head before he racked in a round. "You should be ashamed of yourselves." He had his cheek on the rifle stock, watching the little blonde as he openly looked panicked and scared, but it didn't slow him down much before he took careful aim and pulled the trigger, hitting Clint high on his leg. Before the smoke cleared, he reached for the comm again. "He can't run now. Recover him quickly before someone investigates."

One of Maverick's men who hadn't gotten a knife in the jewels or an arrow to the face managed to recover his wits enough to grab Clint, though Maverick was shaking his head again watching the little guy try and bite his way out of it too, playing dirty until he got around the gloved hand over his mouth enough to shout "BARNEY!"

At first, there was no response, but then, out of nowhere, another kid, this one a redheaded teenager, seemed to appear with two swords in hand to rush for the team trying to get out of there. The two men who weren't severely wounded or holding Clint went to deal with the problem, only for one of them to get stabbed before the other one decided it just wasn't worth it to keep fighting and detonated a smoke grenade instead, leaving Barney coughing and blindly running after his brother.

By that time, the whole scene had attracted a crowd, and when Paul got there, half the circus was trying to either calm Barney down or help him look for Clint.

"Paul!" Barney rushed over to the ringmaster, his eyes wide. "We need to call my mom.  _Right now_."

"On it." Paul didn't even hesitate to grab Barney by the arm and take him back to the phone so he could get a hold of K, panicking openly and pacing back and forth until K picked up.

"Mom, Clint's gone!" Barney blurted out as soon as K picked up on the other end.

"What are you talking about?" K said. "Slow down and breathe."

"I don't know what happened," Barney said, not at all breathing like she'd told him to. "I heard him yelling, and by the time I got there, he'd already shot, like, five guys, but one of them grabbed him, and it looked like he was  _bleeding_ , Mom, and I stabbed a guy, but they got away and—"

"Alright, we're on the way. Get somewhere safe."

"D'you want me to go to Westchester?"

"We'll be there before you can get yourself together. I want to see you before we start hunting," K said.

"Okay. I'll just stick with Paul and Miranda, then," Barney said, glancing over at Paul, who looked like he was ready to kill someone over this as well.

"What did she say?" Paul asked.

"She's coming here," Barney said.

Paul nodded at that and then put his arm around Barney's shoulders. "We're going to fix this, alright?"

Barney nodded, though he was still shaking until Paul sat down with him to wait until his parents arrived.

When Logan and K arrived, K went to Barney as Logan darted off to find a trail. "Tell me what you know and what you saw," K said, though she was dressed to  _work_  for a change in a new uniform that Jan had designed to K's specifications.

"Just like I said," Barney said, wide-eyed at seeing K in a "business" outfit. "Clint took, like, five of 'em down before I even got there. He called for me to help, but they threw a smoke grenade."

K nodded and tipped her head toward where it was clear Clint had been taken. "Walk me through what you saw. Logan's looking for a scent trail."

Barney nodded, trying to take a deep breath. He pointed at the spots where he'd seen each of the five guys. "This guy… shot him in the head… this guy in the balls, except I didn't see an arrow… these two had arrows in their shoulders and the guy that had Clint had one in his leg." He bit his lip. "I shoulda stopped 'em. I stabbed one of 'em — I'm sorry."

"These guys were pros," K said. "Five plus a sniper is a strike team, and if they were after him, they knew who they were hunting. It's up to you if you want to stay here or go back to the school for a while, but I'd personally prefer it if you hid with some protection for a little bit. At least until we get Clint back."

"Do you think they grabbed him 'cause of what those creeps did to make him heal?" Barney asked, his eyes wide.

K tipped her head to the side to think it over but shook her head. "No one knew about that. But if they shot him; they'll know now. This was probably a play to draw Logan or me out — and probably, it was for me."

"But if you killed all the people who knew about what Sinister did for them…"

"If they shot him, he'll be healing  _now_ ," K said. "They aren't as stupid as I'd like them to be. They'll see that he doesn't need surgery."

Barney shuddered. "Who are they anyway? Same guys or different ones? I don't even  _know_."

"Logan will be able to tell us when he gets back from running down the trail," K said, though her sentiment was interrupted when Logan's swearing was heard through the comms.

"Sniper sprayed the area with pepper spray," Logan said. "Can't catch a damn thing."

K turned to Barney after Logan told her he was coming in. "So that's probably the Department."

Barney let out a low whistle. "Those guys are the worst. How did they even know to come here?"

"I don't know; they seem to figure out just where I don't want them to be." K smiled tightly and gave him a quick hug. "We'll handle it. Don't worry."

"Um, I'm gonna worry anyway. It's my job as the big brother of the super-danger-prone idiot I got stuck with."

"You gonna go to Westchester then?" K asked as Logan met up with them, still swearing under his breath and trying to clear his nose.

"For now, I guess, yeah," Barney said. "But I'm still gonna be the ringmaster here, you know."

"Couple days, tops," Logan said.

"We'll be fine, Barn," Paul said. "More worried about you and Clint than we are about the show. You're more important to us."

Barney let his shoulders drop. "Yeah," he said quietly. "Love ya too, Paul."

"I'll help you pack some clothes," Paul said, then looked toward K. "Five minutes. And I can drive him there myself. We don't have a show tomorrow night."

"I'm fine. You guys just go get Clint, okay?" Barney said, looking perfectly serious. "I want to see him live to be old enough to actually join a superhero team, y'know?"

"That's the plan," Logan agreed. "Check in if there's trouble — otherwise, we'll be back with your brother as soon as we burn 'em to the ground."

"I'm sure we'll see the smoke from space," Paul said with a tight smile.

Logan and K shared a look, and K made a point to kiss Barney's cheek and give him a little hug before the two of them rushed back to the jet to head out.

* * *

Clint was making life as miserable as he could for as many people handling him as possible. Even if they had managed to get him in a transport and get him restrained, that didn't seem to stop him from doing everything else he could think of — from dropping down to the floor as dead weight to insulting the guards to at one point head-butting a soldier who picked him up.

"He is a  _child_ ; surely this many trained adults can  _manage him_ ," one of the senior doctors in charge shouted, though as soon as Clint had seen the lab coats, his behavior got even  _worse_  until he was almost blindly thrashing and impossible to hold onto.

Finally, one of the medical assistants got there with a sedative, and for a second, everyone started to relax when Clint went slightly limp — but that only lasted for maybe a handful of seconds before he started to come out of it again. Taking advantage of the fact that they'd thought he was going to go to sleep, Clint even managed to worm out of their grasp and make a break for it, still slightly limping and hopping along with every other step.

Naturally, the medics regrouped quickly, though it was a pair of guards that managed to bring Clint down — not being kind at all in how they slammed him to the ground — all while medical was shouting about the boy already being injured. Only … when the medic got close enough to look at the wound, there was obviously an issue. "Could someone call in Dr. Cornelius, please?" the medic said quietly.

On hearing the name, Maverick turned from his paperwork with a frown on his face as he watched the scene unfold. Which was when he saw that the injury that Clint had sustained had very nearly pushed the bullet  _out_ on its own — and the medic was simply watching in pure shock.

"Lemme go or you guys are so dead you don't even  _know_ how dead you are," Clint was half grumbling.

"He'll want a DNA test right away," another medic said, completely ignoring Clint. "We should have that started before he gets here."

"Agreed," the first medic said, though no one moved until the bullet was out. Instead of drawing blood or getting a cheek swab, the second medic carefully took the bullet wrapped in gauze and darted down the hall toward the lab, while the rest of the group made sure Clint was well and truly  _secure_ before they even thought of moving him again.

And that in itself was a whole lot of work — and was telling as to how much Clint did  _not_ want to get stuck in another lab. He was fighting hard ... right up until they finally got him pinned down in the lab. And then, once he couldn't move, it was like a switch had been flipped, and he turned from a little monster of teeth into a scared kid, hyperventilating and screwing his eyes shut and barely keeping from crying.

"Sedative," one of the docs said, automatically going to work. "Start small — we don't know yet what his ratio will be."

It took a few tries to get the right level to at least get Clint calm, let alone to find something that would knock him out, but right around when his breathing started to even out, the medic who had left came back to run the results of the DNA test, already nodding to himself as Dr. Cornelius finally arrived.

"What was the big rush?" Cornelius asked.

"The boy the strike team went after can heal," the medic at the computer explained.

Cornelius paused and turned toward Clint. "The one that was traveling with K?" He smirked to himself as he watched Clint. "I want DNA results  _now_."

"It's running," the medic replied, gesturing to the computer screen.

"Compare to our most likely suspects. She's been loose a long time; no telling what kind of trouble she's been up to."

"And given his coloring and how vicious he's been fighting our men…"

"The viciousness can easily be from  _her_ ," Cornelius pointed out. "But I want to see the results when they come in all the same. It would corroborate Creed's story, though.."

"Ugh. I hate him," came a quiet mutter from where Clint was still trapped.

Cornelius looked encouraged and turned toward Clint to see what the boy would be willing to tell him. "But you know who he is."

"The ugliest dead guy on the planet, yeah," Clint said, starting to wake up a little but still clearly feeling the effects of the sedative. "Couldn't find his own ass with his hands."

"And how do you know who he is, young man?" Cornelius asked.

"Um, because he hates my dad and wants to bang my mom. Duh."

"So K  _is_ your mother," Cornelius said, looking to the medic by the machines to get confirmation.

"DNA matches," the medic reported. "But he doesn't match anyone  _else_ in our system."

"Then our girl's been busy," he decided.

"That's my mom you're talking about, you weird Coke bottle-wearing barrel of stupid," Clint said.

"Yes, and she's one of our missing assets," Cornelius said. "Which, by proxy, makes  _you_ one of our assets, young man."

"Hard pass." Clint was almost fully awake now, and he was constantly, reflexively, trying to pull free, even if he was sassing Cornelius the whole time.

Cornelius was smirking but predictably ignored Clint's outburst. "I need X-rays of the boy's arms. I'd like to see what  _else_ this young man has inherited besides her healing and smart mouth."

"What, do you guys not  _talk_ to each other?" Clint snarled. "I already did this dance with you lunatics!"

Cornelius let out a patient breath. "At any rate, I want numbers on this one. And if word happens to get out to the right people, which I'm sure it will, we'll need reinforcements in place to capture our other assets. I know she'll come running at least. That's what Creed's last report read, anyhow." He turned to look at Clint more squarely. "Unless of course you're old enough to be on your own in her eyes. I have no idea what that woman considers 'grown'."

For just a second, Clint looked like he might snap at Cornelius before he held his breath, forced himself to swallow, and shook his head. "I haven't seen her since I was eight," he lied. He knew the guy was digging for information, and he was going to send them the wrong way if he could help it.

"Does that mean she has a new child to hide with?"

"Um, no, it means I'm a pain," Clint countered angrily. He was  _trying_ to do  _something_ to keep these guys off his mom's scent — and James'. He could do that much, at least.

"Our last reports say she was getting close to Wolverine. Has  _he_ stepped in to watch out for you, then?"

"I can take care of myself. Just ask your guards how many guys I shot," Clint sniffed.

"Yes, I'm curious as to who exactly taught you that," Cornelius said. "So, was it your mother — or did the two of you stick around Wolverine for longer than a weekend?"

"I learned from anyone that'll teach me," Clint said, tipping his chin up. "Since I was old enough to throw a punch."

Cornelius looked irritated. "She's not following  _any_ of her programming. If she was, there would be fewer people on the list." he dropped the file in his hand on the table nearby. "Set up a recovery unit to be ready when she gets here — and prepare the boy to head to the workshop. Maybe we can make use of the temporary alliances she set into place yet." With that, he spun on his heel and left.


	9. Mav Learns a Hard Lesson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Logan and K are NOT happy with Maverick.

 

Maverick waited for the official call to go out to the ranks before he found a payphone that wasn't easily traceable to make the call to Logan and let him know what he could without incriminating himself. "Who'd you piss off this time?" Maverick asked when Logan answered his cell.

"Kinda busy, North."

"Does it have anything to do with some questionable troop movement at the Pembroke facility?" Maverick asked. "Looks like they're getting ready to move someone, only I can't figure out who it is." Maverick paused. "Wraith is accounted for in Alabama at that church. Can't seem to find Creed for love or money — not that I'm upset about that. But any of the big assets … well. Nothing to show."

Logan was quiet for a moment as he thought it over. "Cut the crap and tell me what you know."

"New asset. Sounded awful  _young,_  to be honest. Came in with a leg wound." Maverick took a deep breath and steadied his heart rate. "I can keep an eye on the site. Might even be able to sneak in and assess. But things are getting awful busy."

"And what the hell were you doin' there to start with?" Logan asked. "Not like Pembroke is anywhere near anything worth givin' a damn about."

"Other business," Maverick replied. "I tend to look into these places when the chatter is up and I'm anywhere near them."

"Right."

"Kristie isn't far from here," Maverick said finally. "Her —  _our_ — old cabin out west got torched. So I've been watching the place closer than the others."

There was a long stretch of silence from Logan, and Maverick honestly held his breath waiting to hear if his old teammate was going to go for it. "Find a vantage point."

"Consider it done," Maverick said. "Try not to get caught." But Maverick wasn't surprised at all when Logan simply hung up.

The two ferals were already loaded up in the jet, so they got going fast with a new heading. K didn't ask what was going on beyond asking  _who_ it was Logan had talked to — and then she promptly settled into the copilot chair with a frown. Logan landed several miles from the facility and was sure to keep the jet cloaked, though before they left the safety of the jet, K sent a text to Steve to fill him in on what was going on — in case it went south. Logan might not have taken to doing that, but K had seen enough times how valuable the backup was.

_Carol and I can be there in a second. We've sort of got our hands full here or I could spare more than that._

_What's wrong, sweetheart?_ K texted back with a smirk.

_Wanda's powers are something else. You really need to see it for yourself. She… may have gotten… inspired by you._

_By me? How? Did she break an Elf?_

_Not the way you're thinking. But he might be having a heart attack all the same._ There was a pause, then,  _This really is one you need to see for yourself. Let's just say Katie and Susie have some great new friends to keep them company, and I'll be there with Carol as soon as I can._

_I don't know that we need the help, but if you don't hear back from me in the next two hours, you've got my coordinates._

_Good luck. Don't let Logan do anything stupid without me._

_I'll do what I can. You know how he is._

_Yeah, I do. Still, be careful. And tell that kid I'm going to wrap him in bubble wrap when he gets back here._

_Fight you for it,_ K replied, then signed off before she put the phone in her pocket to be able to reach out if need be. She slipped into place with Logan, and the two of them headed out into the trees to circle around back.

Not that they had to look too hard when they could both hear Clint fighting the guys moving him with everything he had: "Remember that guy I neutered? I'm gonna get you next!"

"Do you want the direct route, or do you want to take the sneaky route?" K asked Logan.

"You're itchin' to stab someone," Logan pointed out. "I've got your back if you wanna run point on this."

"Sounds good," K agreed before she let out a shrill whistle to catch Clint's attention.

There was a beat of silence before Clint shouted back, in Swedish: " _Det ligger en hund begraven!"_

K glanced over at Logan. "Don't worry about it. It's a trap, but we knew that, right?"

"Oh yeah," Logan agreed, and the two of them burst out of the darkness, drawing fire as they fought their way into the fray. There was a lot of shouting from the soldiers as the two ferals took fire and covered each other's backs, working toward the transport that Clint was being dragged to. "Hit 'em, kiddo!"

Clint nodded and didn't hesitate to kick one of the guys holding him just above his knee to dislocate it, then yanked free of the other one and put an elbow in his gut before he took off running — this time with a much clearer path out than the last time. "You guys gotta get out of here!" he shouted.

"Not without you," K called back, totally blowing what Clint thought was a reasonable cover story when he'd lied about how close he was to K.

"Yeah, but I don't want them to have all three of us," Clint countered as he ducked an attempt to grab him and then dropped to the ground to avoid the butt of a rifle.

"They won't," Logan called back, diving in to a group that was just starting to raise their rifles toward K. And seeing as they were aiming at his wife and kid, Logan wasn't holding back anything at all.

By the time Logan made his way to Clint, the kid was doing a good job of ducking and weaving with his hands behind his back, but he looked perfectly relieved to catch up to Logan. "We have to get out," he told Logan seriously. "They think I'm Mom's — like, biologically. They ran a test… it came back with  _her_ DNA because of the vampire!"

"So I guess you're Swedish now," Logan teased.

"I guess," Clint said, then paused. "Do you think hers overrode Dad's and I'm just hers and my first mom's?"

"If you wanna look at it that way, I'm game," Logan said.

"Yep, that's the only way I'm looking at it. No more Harry Barton. Best news I've heard all day," Clint said, turning so Logan could cut his cuffs before he gave Logan a quick hug. "Okay, let's get out of here,  _please_."

"Working on it," Logan grumbled, rushing to cut through a few of the guys trying to isolate them. "Steal a gun and start shooting the idiots trying to get your mom down."

Clint's eyes went wide, and he looked past Logan to K — and he didn't need any more prompting than that to grab a gun and go to town. K had taught him and Barney how to shoot when they were kids — he could work just as well this way as with a bow.

K was working hard enough that she wasn't in a position to be sassy or do more than nod once, quickly, to Clint in acknowledgement as she kept fighting through the men around her and Logan started working to clear a path a little further out. She thought she was in some trouble, too, when the men around her suddenly backed out of her reach, but Clint was quick and started shooting them, drawing their attention so K could get in closer and steal a gun for herself if they were so afraid to get near her.

Once they were both armed, it was just a matter of staying in good supply of ammunition as they cleared a path, though K stopped long enough to rip some armor off one of the downed men and put a vest  _and_ a helmet on Clint as he kept cover. "Figure out getting shot isn't fun yet?" K asked, handing him a fresh magazine full of rounds.

"Yeah, um, I never,  _ever_ want to do that again," Clint said, his eyes wide.

"I hope you never do," K said with a nod, only then hoping that Clint wasn't paying attention to the proof of the rounds she and Logan had already collected between them.

"They took the bullet," Clint breathed out. "They know I've got your genes."

"That can't be good," she said under her breath while both of them were still looking for creeps to shoot on their way out. But before they could discuss much, K heard — very faintly through a radio — a command that had her taking pause.

 _Maverick! Do your_ job _!_ someone was shouting, and it was enough to make K stop, mid-fight, and turn toward the radio on the downed soldier.

"Mom?" Clint stopped with her, clutching the gun he'd stolen. "Come on. We gotta  _go_."

"Yeah," she said, turning her focus well beyond the soldiers around them or even Logan, looking into the trees as she searched for where Maverick was tucked away. She paused a moment longer and handed Clint another magazine. "I've got your back."

"And I've got yours. You know that, right? I wasn't gonna let them look for you?"

"Even if they catch me, I get out, sweetie," K said. "Sometimes it takes a little while, but I get out."

"Sometimes you get supervillain help," Clint pointed out.

"Still got out."

"Sure thing, Mom."

K let out a huff, but the two of them caught up to Logan quickly — and K frowned deeper after she saw the way a few of the soldiers near Logan dropped from sniper fire. Close enough that Maverick could  _claim_ that Logan had moved. Or the soldier had. But that had her scowling deeper with every shot, even if she'd figured out where Maverick  _was._

When they reached Logan, K didn't wait to break into his thoughts before he could suggest something different. "So what's the plan, since I am very sure your sniper friend isn't just being a pal?"

"Mav's … different," Logan said. "He's got a little girl we gotta make sure is safe before we can cut and run."

K nodded and pulled out her cell phone just to note the time, hum to herself, and put it right back into her pocket, deciding it might not hurt for Logan to remember what actual backup looked like when dealing with an old friend that had been on the team with him. And the window was almost up.

"Wait, there's another kid in trouble?" Clint asked. "Let's go get her." It was clear from his tone that he hadn't even thought about doing anything different. The idea of someone else, especially someone young like him, in trouble with these guys was enough to get him moving despite how shaken he obviously still was.

"That's the idea," Logan agreed, though K was quiet the deeper they got into the woods.

Clint looked between his parents, seemed to catch on quickly that something was up, and, as usual, tried to inject a little joy. "So… at this point, can I be an X-Man when I'm eleven? Because I feel like I earned it."

"You're kidnapped enough to be an X-Man," K deadpanned without missing a beat, though that had Logan's shoulders dropping — he was pretty convinced he was bringing down more danger on the kids than they deserved.

"Yeah, but I took down a whole team first," Clint insisted. "I'm more than just  _bait_. I was totally heroic!"

"Which was awesome," K agreed. "Nice job going for the squishy bits, sweetheart."

"Yeah, he didn't get up after that," Clint said.

"He's not going to be doing much after that," K said. "Knife wound to the boys like that usually ends up cutting all kinds of stuff guys don't want cut. No kids. Maybe no sex again ever. Gonna need a colostomy bag, most likely. Reap what you sow, in his case." She'd said the last part a little louder as she heard Maverick coming closer to meet up with them.

"Yeah, well, he didn't need kids. If I couldn't heal, he'd've left a bruise," Clint said, pulling a face. "No one like that should be allowed near kids."

"Still not as bad as the guy that shot you," she said, and by that time, she'd locked on to Maverick and was watching his every move without blinking.

"Yeah, my leg's still buzzing," Clint said, sticking his tongue out.

But while K was analyzing Maverick's every movement, Logan simply walked up to the guy. "What's the story with Kristie, Mav?"

"They've got her at home, locked down. Armed guards … the whole nine." Now that the breakout was over, Maverick just wanted to get to his daughter and get her out while Logan was still there.

"We can get her out, right, Dad?" Clint said, glancing over at Logan.

"Yeah, we'll get her out," Logan agreed, only then realizing how hard K was watching Maverick. And after a quick look between them, he  _thought_ he had things figured out. Not that he'd say anything before the girl was alright. "Let's get her safe, and we can get the hell out."

"Okay, what's the plan? Is she cute?" Clint asked, once again trying to break up the tension.

Maverick looked completely unamused, but before he could do more than draw a breath, K stepped up. "We'll cover your back while you save your little girl," she said. "Something tells me you'll be just fine if you have cover."

When Maverick started to bristle, that was enough to get Clint to drop his friendliness too. "Listen, I just got shot and all, so if you're gonna start a fight over a  _good_ plan, I'll just go get her myself. I know I can."

"You're not going in after someone you don't know in a place you know nothing about," K told Clint firmly. "This guy knows the place, what the defenses are, what kind of guard detail will be there, and any other damn thing you can think of. All he needs is backup." She tipped her head to the side. "And maybe a getaway driver."

Logan nodded. "Done."

With that decided, then, it didn't take long before they were rolling out to go help Kristie — and as K had suspected, Maverick was more than ready to go get his little girl himself and let the guys threatening her have it.

"What do you know?" Logan asked her quietly as they watched Maverick's back while he worked.

"I know he's been working for the other side," K said just as quietly. "Heard one of the docs over their comm tell him to do his job, so … I know you didn't really trust him much to begin with, but you need to put up some boundaries, sweetheart."

"Not exactly surprised," Logan said under his breath, then turned to watch Clint for a moment. "How you doin', kiddo?"

"I'm okay," Clint said, though that was definitely a lie. Without the excitement of a rescue mission to keep him going, he didn't have anything to distract him from how scared and hurt he still felt, and it showed.

"Clint," K said, shaking her head.

"I'm okay," Clint said. "Really. I'm just… freaked."

"You going to be okay?" K asked. "Or do you need to shoot someone in the ass?"

"I already shot a bunch of people," Clint said quietly.

"I could shoot one more," K said flatly.

"I'm really okay," Clint promised, wrapping his arms around himself. "I just don't like labs. That's all. I can't stop freaking out in 'em."

"Takes time," K said. "And you don't have to be in a rush."

"Yeah, but Dad said if I'm gonna be a hero, I need to get used to it, because my teammates might get hurt too."

"True, but you have time still. You need to be trained for situations like this," she said.

Clint was quiet for a long time before he tried hard to redirect the conversation to something he was more comfortable with. "Then do you think Scott'll let me at least  _train_ — even if I'm not thirteen?"

"If he doesn't, I will," Logan said.

"Good," Clint said with a nod, falling quiet again as they waited for Maverick, though neither K nor Logan had expected him to go from being freaked out to saying, "I was right. She's cute," once Maverick and Kristie got out of the house and started to head their way.

"Must take after her mother," K deadpanned.

Clint snorted. "Yeah, probably. Like I take after both of mine."

As he caught up to them, Maverick looked somewhere between relieved that Kristie was safe and irritated with Clint's open grin, though as the young lady made her way closer to K and Clint so K could look her over on Logan's word, Logan took a hold of Maverick's arm and pulled him aside before Maverick could say a  _word_ to Clint.

Now that Kristie was out of danger, Logan didn't see any reason not to get right to the point. "I'm only gonna ask you this once. Simple yes or no. Did you shoot Clint?"

Maverick stopped, knowing full well he couldn't lie about it to Logan, and instead glanced over to where K was cleaning up a cut at Kristie's hairline. "I was under orders."

"To shoot a  _kid_." Logan's tone was clearly full of anger — though he kept his volume low so the two could continue their private talk. Maverick didn't respond more than to nod once, and Logan let out a disbelieving sound. "You have any frikkin' idea how lucky you are right now? If it wasn't  _me_ , you'd be dead. If you got any brains in your head, you'll find someone to be a good backup to that kid before you piss the wrong person off  _again_ , cause next time, North — I'm not pulling you out of trouble."

When Logan had left Maverick, Clint was already openly flirting with Kristie, too, grinning with his hands in his back pockets — it didn't even look like he realized he was doing it. "And I've just about talking 'em into letting me into training early, but you know, it was the first school I've ever actually  _liked_ ," he was saying as the two men joined them. "But it's summer right now, so we're staying with the Avengers."

Kristie grinned at him. "You're making that up."

"I am  _not_ ," Clint insisted — and when a Quinjet engine whined overhead almost on cue, he broke into a disbelieving laugh. "See?"

"That wife of yours is something else," Maverick said to Logan quietly.

"Your own fault for pissing her off," Logan said. "If your daughter hadn't have been here, you'd be rottin' in the field already."

Before Maverick could respond, Clint had grabbed Kristie's arm. "C'mon. Wanna meet the Avengers?"

Maverick looked even more like he was regretting everything about this situation.

"Well, this is not what I was expecting," Steve said as he got out of the Quinjet to see the small group.

"I needed Carol for a debrief," K said, shifting her gaze from Steve to Carol — and then pointedly tipping her head toward Maverick.

Carol nodded subtly, though she smiled toward Clint after that. "What, to vet your boy's girlfriend? She's cute. Vetting done."

Clint grinned at a red-faced Kristie. "She's not wrong."

K met up with Carol as she stepped away from the kids, not even trying to hide her intentions. "This jackass went after my kid, and I'm trying not to kill him as a favor to his daughter. Which means he's your problem. Or I will kill him."

Carol's eyebrows shot up. "I'm surprised Logan isn't trying to kill him too if he went after Clint."

"Logan isn't overly big on orphaning kids if he can help it either."

"Neither am I," Carol pointed out, then held up a hand. "But I'll look into him. What do you need besides intel?"

"Basic digging that I don't want to get fixated on," K said. "Who he's working for and what he's taken for jobs in the past, oh, year or two. I'd like to know how long those creeps have held that little girl, too."

Carol was nodding along to every word. "I'll look into her first. That will put the rest of it into context."

"And maybe you have something that Tony made that can track the idiot so he doesn't ditch and run back to the slave traders without us knowing?" K suggested with a not-at-all-believable smile.

"What on earth would make you think that?" Carol asked as she handed K the tracker. Openly.

K nodded and turned to where Maverick was watching the kids from a little distance, arms crossed and within easy reach of both Logan and Steve. She stopped in front of Maverick, looked up at him, and flatly ignored the foot difference in height as she stepped closer, popped one claw, and flicked her wrist at his ribs. As he flinched, her other hand darted out, and she jammed the tracker right between his ribs. "That's for shooting my kid," she growled low. "If you drop it, I'll know. Then I'll have to come and find you and put it somewhere that'll be a lot harder to get out. Do yourself a favor and don't. Touch. It."

With that, she turned on her heel, back to where Clint had his arm around Kristie's shoulders as he introduced her to Steve, who was backing Clint up on all the stories about how he lived at the tower in the summers and at the school during the fall, winter, and spring, noting that it was a completely biased arrangement.

"But during the holidays, we go to my mom's cabin instead," Clint was saying as K caught up to them.

"Do you feel properly rescued?" K asked Kristie, her tone much softer than the one she'd used with Maverick.

Kristie nodded, looking almost overwhelmed. "Yeah, definitely."

"Wonderful," she said. "I'm sure that the two captains have a scan or two for you to make sure that you aren't carrying anything you don't know about. Then you can head off into hiding, if you like." She looked over at Maverick, who was clearly in pain. "Or the school, if you have things to learn."

"I bet you'd like it there," Clint said. "Do you have any powers? I mean, it's cool if you don't. I didn't at first. But it's  _great_ for learning about powers. My sisters don't have powers, and they get to do their schooling there too, but they're a lot younger than you are…"

Kristie glanced back toward her dad and frowned when she saw he was wincing. "I don't know…"

"Well, you should at least get checked over," Clint told her seriously. "They'll put stuff in you if you're not careful. I'd know."

"Really?"

"Yeah, at this point, these guys're, like, my archnemeses. Seeing as my dad killed the big giant creep they thought I was related to and a  _different_ supervillain killed the vampire…"

"We really ought to just … head out," Maverick cut in, but before he could get too far into it, Carol had returned from the jet with a scanner and gave both of them a once over. Kristie was clear, and, of course, Maverick was not.

"That tracker is working perfectly, and before you get any ideas, it reports back all kinds of biodata on you too. So don't even think of dropping it somewhere," Carol told him quietly. "I've seen her work. You don't want to do anything  _else_  to draw that down on yourself."

"And if Kristie needs training," Logan said, arms crossed as he stood next to Carol, "you know the number."

"Or even if you just wanna hang out!" Clint called out cheerfully.

Steve was smirking hard as he put a hand on Clint's shoulder. "Come on. I bet you can help us with the whole new adventure we're having back home. Logan, you too. Your best friend's involved."

"When is he not?" Logan asked, though he had his arm around K's waist, and it was clear the two of them were already getting settled in as they headed for the X-Men's jet.

"Yeah, but for this… like I told K, you're going to want to see it for yourself."

"Fine," Logan said, settling in — a bit more laid-back than Steve was used to seeing after a mission, especially one with the department and especially one involving his son. But that, Steve was sure, spoke to how much good K was doing for the guy. "Clint, you wanna fly?"

"Can I  _please?_ "

"Sure can," Logan said. "I'll fly copilot for you. But you need to call your brother once we're in the air."

Clint nodded. "Yeah, Barney stabbed a guy. Did you see?"

"They'd cleared all the low-lives out by the time we got there," Logan said.

"Well, he totally stabbed the guy. He woulda saved me, except for the smoke."

"You're alright now," Logan said. "So let's get rolling see what kind of drama the Elf came up with when we turned around for five seconds."

"He's a circus brat. It's gotta be  _super_ dramatic," Clint agreed, already grinning as he followed Logan up to the cockpit.


	10. Now We Have Another Tiny Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kurt didn't even get to do the fun part.

 

When Logan, K, and Clint got to Avenger's Tower, none of them were sure what to expect from what Steve said they "had to see for themselves"… but it definitely wasn't two little boys, about Katie's age, giggling and running around with Katie and Susie.

More than that, it was plainly apparent  _who_ the boys belonged to. One of them could have been Pietro's mirror image, except for the bright yellow eyes and pointed ears… and the other one had Wanda's dark hair, but it curled like Kurt's above his also-pointed ears. And both of them had pointy-toothed smiles when the newcomers arrived.

"Hi!" called out the white-haired little boy, waving enthusiastically.

"Oh, my God," K breathed out.

Wanda was a brilliant almost-purple from blushing by that point. "I just woke up… and there they were…"

"You need to explain more better," K said, staring between Wanda and the boys.

Wanda's knee was bouncing until Kurt, similarly gobsmacked and purple-colored, put his hand on her knee, and she glanced up at him before she swallowed. "I can affect reality with my powers," she explained. "We had been… we were  _talking_ about … well, we were just  _dreaming_  about the future, really. Kurt woke up when Tommy jumped on him…"

There was a long beat of silence before Logan couldn't stop the quiet chuckle … that dissolved quickly into outright laughter. The kind of laughter that had him looking for a place to sit down, since he couldn't  _breathe_ properly.

"Really,  _mein Freund_ ," Kurt breathed out, though when Logan was laughing  _that_ hard, it was difficult not to join him.

Logan gestured with one hand, wiping tears away with the other. "You didn't even get to do the fun part," he said — and then started cracking up again all over.

"We  _did_ ," Kurt blustered, though he was turning even more purple.

"So… you magicked kids into existence?" Clint said, one eye closed as he watched the little boys. "Are they permanent?"

"So far," Jan giggled from where the dark-haired boy had climbed into her arms.

"Their names are William and Thomas," Wanda said, finally composing herself a little more. "William has dark hair."

"His name is Billy, and I love him!" Katie declared happily. "He's my bestest  _boy_ friend, and Rachel is my bestest  _girl_ friend!"

"No offense, Elf," Logan said, still trying to catch a breath as he smiled at him. "But I'd rather stick to the old-fashioned way."

"Yes, well, that  _was_ the original thought when we discussed … long-term…" Kurt breathed out.

"Yeah? How come you haven't asked her to marry you yet, then?" Logan teased.

"Well, obviously, I didn't expect—"

"Oh, bad Catholic move," K said, cutting in and slowly shaking her head — though that had Logan chuckling all over again.

"What's a cat lick?" Tommy asked, running almost smack into K and then grinning up at her.

"Your dad is a cat lick," K told him with a little smile. "Hi."

"Cool!" Tommy held up his hands to be picked up. "I'm Tommy. Hi."

K picked him up and gave him a little squeeze. "Hi Tommy, I'm K."

Tommy grinned crookedly and then kissed her full on the mouth. "I like you!"

Katie burst into giggles until she fell over backwards. "He did that to me too, Mom! He's kissy!"

"Cause he's got good taste," Logan laughed.

"He kissed me too," Susie piped up, making a face.

"Still, good taste, Susiazulabee," K said.

Susie giggled. "That's my mom. She never says my name right," she explained to Billy.

"I like her," Billy said, watching the whole interaction between his brother and K with wide eyes and a quiet smile.

"They've been saying that about everything," Tony chuckled. "Everything's new to them. Somehow, they can walk and talk and all that, but everything else? Brand new."

Wanda brushed a hand through her hair. "If I knew I'd done it…"

"No, no," Jan assured her quickly. "This is  _way_  too fun. No take-backs!"

"Wanna say hi to your  _dad_ 's best friend, Tommarry?" K teased, still playing with the white-haired little boy, though she was looking at Kurt.

Tommy grinned and nodded. "Okay. Daddy, which one's your best friend?"

"The one laughing hard enough to fall over," Kurt said, still shaking his head at the whole thing, though no one could stop smiling with how  _enthusiastic_ and  _friendly_  the little boys were.

"Oh. Hi!" Tommy waved brightly. "Hi, Daddy's best friend who's laughing!"

But that only had Logan smiling more at them. "Hey, kid."

"I'm Tommy," he said. "And I'm silly! That's what everyone says!"

"Yeah, you kissed my wife," Logan said.

"Oh, well, I don't know who is everybody," Tommy said with a shrug. "I just got here."

"That's alright, sweetheart," Wanda said gently. "You'll learn quickly."

"I'm gonna help!" Katie promised. "Just like I help my little brother!"

"She's nice. I like her too," Tommy told K.

"Everybody loves Katie," Jan giggled, still clearly tickled with his things were progressing.

"And Kurt loves Wanda," Katie giggled. " _Sooooo_ much that they made babies!"

"Yeah, they skipped over the babies and went right to sweet little boys," K said, then waved at Billy with the tips of her fingers. "Don't tell me you're shy."

"Hi." Billy grinned and then snuggled into Jan. "I like Jan."

"Jan is very sweet," K agreed, leaning into Logan as Tommy leaned back on her.

"I like 'em," Katie declared before she skipped over to Clint to wrap her arms around him. "Hi! How was the circus?"

"The circus was super fun," Clint promised. He wasn't exactly lying, either, since the  _circus_ had been fun. It was just the creeps that had gotten the drop on him while he was there that weren't so much fun.

"Clint, you need to go have the fuzzy blue fella with _out_ the tail check you over," K reminded him.

"Oh, so not the new dad?" Clint said, grinning crookedly.

"Yes. That one. The one with Twinkies and Suzie-Q's."

"Did you get hurt at the circus?" Katie asked worriedly, looking her big brother over closer.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Clint promised.

"Yes, you look fine," Kurt said, though he was looking at Logan. "The uniforms… perfectly intact…"

"I think it was big moths," Logan deadpanned as he grabbed a hold of K's uniform near a torn spot and pulled her closer.

"Really big moths," Clint agreed, then grabbed Katie's hand. "You want to come with me? I still don't like doctors."

"My new friends can come too!" Katie said. "Dr. Blue said he wanted to look at them, but we never got there because everyone wanted snuggles."

"That means you, Tommy Two-step," K said.

"My name's Tommy," he said, scrunching up his nose at her.

"Tommaniacal."

"No, Tommy!" he giggled.

"Tomalicious."

"It's okay," Susie said, stepping in just in case Tommy didn't understand teasing yet. "You can play with me. She never says my name right either. It's because she's silly."

"That's because you're too adorable, Susiecute," K promised.

"Yes, I am," Susie giggled.

"C'mon, Tom….mamamamama," Katie said, scrunching up her nose as she tried to come up with a silly name for him. "Let's go see Dr. Blue."

K leaned over to whisper into Katie's hair. "Tomahawk."

Katie squealed with delight, dancing in place with her hands over her mouth. "That one! That one!"

"She's never gonna call him anything else. You know that, right?" Clint said.

"It's sweet," K said. "So … quit stalling and go get looked over so Logan and I can look each other over in peace."

"Eww." Clint made a face.

Katie grinned and held Clint's hand tighter. "It's okay," she promised him. "I'll go with you to the doctor so you're not scared."

"Thanks, Katie," Clint said, taking her with him as they left… and the adults waited until  _all_ the kids were out of earshot before they started up their own conversation.

"I think we need a new team," K said in a yawn. "We need people who aren't going to pussy foot around with idiots like this who mess with our kids. Let Mister  _Frank_ in on it. He needs a hobby, right?"

"No, he really doesn't," Logan said into her hair.

"What happened?" Kurt asked.

"Idiot put a hit out on the kids, shot Daredevil, and ended up with Castle lookin' out for 'em," Logan summarized. "He looked like he wanted to fight until K pulled the rug out from under him."

"And that led to you getting shot by Castle for standing in the way of a fight?" Kurt teased, obviously trying to piece together why they looked shot up — since he had been so preoccupied with his new little ones (and so had Katie and Susie) that none of this news had reached him yet.

"Frank didn't shoot us," K said, her eyes closed by that time. "He got a kiss on the cheek. No. This was Weapon X idiots that swiped Clint."

Kurt put a hand to his forehead. "This day…"

"Logan's  _old friend_ was in the middle of it, too," K said before she twisted partway around to face Logan. "I don't like him. If I see him again and he's alone, I may still stab him."

"Okay," Logan agreed, then shifted so he was a little more comfortable.

"Well, let us be glad Logan's  _other_  friends are here and out of trouble," Kurt said, gesturing between himself and Steve. "What happened with Clint?"

"He got shot," Logan said. "The department sent in a strike team to bring him in. Figured out when they had him that he heals now. They think he's biologically K's. So … just about what you'd expect."

"That's the one good side of dealing with black ops like this," Carol said, shaking her head. "They keep each other in the dark. Otherwise, they'd be interested in the process Sinister invented, not just in him being K's kid."

"Mav knew who he was goin' after," Logan said.

"Maverick?" Kurt's eyebrows shot up. " _Maverick_ shot Clint? Where is he?"

"Dunno," Logan said. "Carol's on it. He had his daughter in the middle somehow."

Kurt shook his head at that. "This new generation seems to attract trouble, Logan."

"Oh  _yeah_ , totally on them," Logan deadpanned.

Kurt chuckled. "No, I was just… thinking of my own and wondering how much trouble  _they_ will have as well."

"Oh yeah, you dove in head-first," Logan said, smiling already. "Hey. You tell your future father-in-law that he's a grandfather yet?"

Kurt let out a long groan and pinched the bridge of his nose as Pietro started to fall apart laughing. "Dibs on that news!" he managed to wheeze out between breaths.

"You're terrible," Wanda told her brother, giving him a sharp glare.

"What are you gonna have the kids call him?" Logan continued, smiling wider the more Pietro laughed.

" _Grampneto!_ " Pietro gasped out from the floor. "Please!"

Logan was laughing harder at that — once again into the uncontrollable tears-in-his eyes level. "Perfect!"

"I have never seen this before," Kurt told Wanda, shaking his head but unable to stop his smile all the same. "They're never ... like… this."

"I can't even begin to figure out what is happening here," Wanda said, shaking her head as she got to her feet. "But I'm going to see how the boys are doing with Hank. You can … deal with  _them_."

"You're abandoning me," Kurt said, though he was laughing. "Now that we have our own, you like them better than me," he teased.

"Nah," Logan said. "She just knows you got the harder job."

"I can handle the boys; you can handle our  _brothers_ ," Wanda said.

"Such faith you have in me," Kurt teased. "I love you too, of course."

"I will take a bribe to shut this one up," K said, leaning heavily on Logan.

"No, no," Kurt said, still laughing. "I need to ask him to be my best man!"

"Then I get to hold the shotgun," K insisted.

"Please do. And remember that  _she_ was the one who wished them into existence," Kurt insisted, over Pietro's gasps of laughter.

"Do you need to file a police report?" K teased.

Pietro was on the floor. "I'll be a character witness!"

Kurt chuckled. "Well, we simply don't find our children the usual way, you and I," he teased K.

"Excuse you, but Mr. Stark is holding the one I  _made_ ," K said. "Not all the kids are found."

"Yes, well, we intend to have some that way as well — once we're married." Kurt was shaking his head. "We fell asleep discussing the possibility of marriage, our expectations of the future…"

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure that's not the first time that excuse has been used," K said in a sarcastic tone.

"K, you wound me. I'm a man of my word!" Kurt laughed.

"I didn't mean by you; I just mean 'we were talking and it just  _happened_ ' has to be in the top ten bad excuses of how kids came into being," K said.

"In my case specifically, it is not," Kurt laughed.

"You tripped," Pietro giggled.

"Yes, Pietro. I tripped," Kurt said dryly.

"I wonder if Grampneto would buy it if we said they weren't magic," K teased. "Then we could get the full 'defend the honor' thing …"

"I think he can do basic math," Pietro laughed. "Four years-ish ago, we were still living on the other side of the world…"

"You  _sneaky little demon_ ," Logan teased.

"It has to come out sometimes," Kurt said, finally succumbing to the teasing he knew he couldn't escape.

"This is the very best 'I didn't know I was pregnant' story I've ever heard," K decided. "The next thing I know,  _they're four years old and I don't know how they got here!_ "

"They are wonderful, though, aren't they?" Kurt said, his eyes shining. "The ears are my favorite, of course."

"I don't know. The white-haired one is awful fresh," K said. "Had to get that from you."

"Oh, of course," Kurt said. "The  _real_ question is how Billy is so shy."

"Maybe he just hasn't snuggled up to anyone he thinks is kissable yet," K said.

"Plus, look at Lorna," Pietro said, trying to pick himself up from the floor. "That shy came from somewhere."

"Oh, hello, Pietro. Can you breathe again?" Jan teased.

"Barely," he said, grinning hard. "This is the best day ever."

"Well, if you're all taken care of," Logan said, shifting to get to his feet, "I think I'm going to take her out of your way … and you can discuss what kind of penance Kurt has to pay now."

"Oh, don't encourage him," Kurt said, even as Pietro clapped his hands together delightedly.

"Don't come knocking," Logan said.

Kurt shook his head. "I think I'll check in on my boys," he said, disappearing in a poof of smoke, which had Jan giggling when Pietro took off as well.

"Oh, he loves saying 'my boys,' doesn't he?" Jan gushed. "It's  _so_ sweet!"

"He really does," K said as Logan pulled her up. "I don't suppose you can babysit Tony babysitting James, could you?"

"Two of my favorite boys in the world? Oh noooooo."

"I think he's soaking up the implications nicely," K told her, but before she could get to teasing more, Logan tossed her over his shoulder and started walking off.

* * *

Downstairs, Katie was taking her duties incredibly seriously, sitting beside Clint and holding his hand while they were in the medical suite. Hank could see that Clint was nervous, so he was looking the twins over first, and Katie was rubbing Clint's back like K liked to do when any of the kids were upset. "It's okay," she whispered. "Dr. Blue's good."

"I know," Clint whispered. It  _was_ helping to have Katie there, because he was trying to be brave for his sister, though he was still bouncing his foot nervously.

"Do you need a Twinkie first  _before_ he checks you over? 'Cause I'll get one. Can I get one for Clint, Dr. Blue?"

"Of course," Hank said. "You know where they are in this lab, don't you?" He pointed to the lower file drawer at his desk. "One drawer below the purple bandages."

Katie grinned, jumped down from the bed she was sitting on with Clint, skipped over to where the Twinkies were, and then climbed back up beside her brother with an encouraging smile.

Clint couldn't help but smile back at her and took the Twinkie. "Thanks, Katie. You're helping me a lot."

"I'm a good sister," Katie agreed.

"You sure are," Clint said, pulling his arms around her in a tight hug and partially hiding in that hug so he could get a hold of himself better by the time Kurt and Pietro arrived with promises to introduce the boys to swinging on the swings and going to the park while Hank finally turned his attention to Clint.

"I got him a Twinkie, just like I said," Katie reported happily.

"She sure did," Clint agreed, though he was shifting quietly. "So, um, I'm all healed. It's just that… well…" He let his voice drop low enough only Hank could hear it and covered his mouth with one hand so Katie couldn't read his lips. "I got shot and drugged, so Mom's nervous."

"With good reason," Hank said. "We need to do the usual scans for trackers, of course."

"Carol did that," Clint said. "After Mom stuck one in the guy with the cute daughter."

"Ooooh, do you have a  _crush_?" Susie asked, grinning widely as she broke into the conversation. She was very bad at eavesdropping.

"I just think she's cute," Clint said with a shrug. "And she  _is_."

"What's her name? How come we haven't met her? Are we gonna meet her?" Susie asked, suddenly  _much_ more interested now that there was the possibility of  _romance_.

"I don't think so," Clint said. "Dad told her dad to call if she needed training."

"Well, we should meet her," Susie insisted. "Anybody that  _you_ have a crush on has to be special, seeing as the last one magicked whole people!"

"She's special just  _because_ Clint likes her," Katie said.

"That's right," Clint agreed. "And she's cute."

"Clint and—" Katie paused. "What's her name?"

"Kristie."

"Clint and Kristie sitting in a tree!" Katie jumped down from her spot on the bed and started running around in circles singing at the top of her lungs.

Clint shook his head and then smiled toward Hank. "Little sisters, right?"

"I suppose so," Hank said with a laugh. "Though they say the same about brothers."

"Yeah, well, I've got two of 'em right here teasing me about girls," Clint pointed out, gesturing to Katie and Susie crooning over his new crush.

"And you're under the false impression that Barney would refrain?"

"Good point. He's with everyone at the school right now, or I'd be getting it from him  _and_ Katie and Susie."

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Katie and Susie were singing together by that point.

Clint shook his head and looked over at Hank. "This is my life now."

"And when do you expect Scott to bring him here to check in on you?" Hank asked, his eyes twinkling with laughter he wasn't even trying to hide in the face of Clint's adorable siblings.

"Probably any second now," Clint admitted. "Barney was pretty upset. He saw me get grabbed. And he's not used to stuff like that. He doesn't live with heroes full-time, you know."

"I can assure you, Clint, even if he was used to it, he'd still want to check on you," Hank said. "Did you notice how many of the Avengers were peeking in on your return?"

"I thought they were all gathered up for the new boys?"

"Then you missed the way that Tony stayed around with James just long enough to make sure you were fine before he left the room."

Clint bit his lip. "I didn't notice that," he admitted.

"Everyone on the team was checking in on you," Hank said. "And I can tell you with the utmost confidence that the X-Men are just as concerned. Don't think that Scott and Barney will be alone."

Clint shifted. "I don't mean to worry everyone," he said. "This just kind of… happens."

"It's simply because they all care," Hank said as he worked. "Tell me: when Jean or Scott have been hurt — or Ororo — do you check in on them?"

Clint nodded. "Yeah, especially if it's one of my friends," he said. "Or Kitty or Jubes — since they're my dad's too, you know."

"It's a sign of affection," Hank said gently.

"Yeah." Clint held his breath — and then, to Hank's surprise, Clint suddenly attached to him in a hug while the girls were distracted, hiding his face in Hank's fur. "I'm really tired of getting caught," he mumbled as he clutched on tight.

"Then we'll have to work on making you harder to catch," Hank told him, wrapping him up in a hug and staying there for as long as Clint needed him to.

Clint kept up the hug for longer than Hank had been expecting him to, until he felt like he had a handle on himself, though his breath was still shuddering when he took it in. "I told Mom… I told Mom and Dad maybe I can start learning and training now instead of in two years," he whispered.

"I think if it helps you at all, that would be a very wise idea," Hank said.

Clint nodded. "That's what Mom said. She said I get kidnapped enough I'm practically an X-Man."

"You truly are."

"I'm kind of tired of it, you know?"

"You're not the only one. I don't know if you've noticed, but Scott has been getting gray hairs already … and only since you've been here," Hank teased. "He can't handle the younger crowd in the line of fire."

"I don't mean to turn him older," Clint said sincerely.

"When I met him, he was already doing a fine job of impersonating a fifty-year-old."

"How old was he then?" Clint asked with a crooked grin, already suspecting the answer.

"We were teenagers."

"Sounds right," Clint said, finally letting go of Hank all the way and scrubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. "You won't tell anyone I cried, will you? Heroes aren't supposed to do that, right?"

"I think you'd be surprised at who openly cries."

"Yeah, I already saw Jean do it, and I know she's a hero and all, but she's also  _Jean_."

"Believe it or not, everyone on the team has their moments," Hank swore.

"Even you?"

"Even me. And your dad."

"Huh." Clint tipped his head to the side as he considered it before he nodded at last. "Alright. Well. We can chalk this up to me being tired and shot, right? Which, by the way, really hurts, and I don't recommend it at all."

"If that's what you'd like to do," Hank said. "And yes, it is one of the least comfortable experiences I can think of."

"Do you think it'll happen a lot once I'm on two teams?"

"It certainly is a larger risk on the X-Men," Hank admitted. "But I'm also very sure that between Tony and Jan, we can come up with some reasonably bulletproof options for you to wear in your uniform."

"Yeah, I know they were talking about it ever since Steve got upset when I told him about how the X-Men have super crazy problems," Clint said, nodding and biting his lip. "I'm glad they're worried about us, but I hate worrying people. Does that make sense?"

"It does. But you can't control how people react," Hank said. "Those that love you will always worry to some degree."

"Yeah, I guess. I worry about my sisters all the time. And my brother too. The Department wanted to know if Mom had any more kids. That's gonna be a problem, huh?"

"I believe that was going to be a problem for her no matter what," Hank told him, though he looked deeply troubled on hearing it. "At least until we find a way to put an end to the Department."

"I want to help end them," Clint said sincerely. "It's getting real personal."

"We'll need all the help we can get," Hank said before he let his voice drop quieter. "I'll be honest with you Clint — because I think you're old enough and experienced enough to know — neither of your parents think that we'll ever see that happen. They have given up hope of ending them."

Clint's eyes were wide, and he was practically holding his breath as he leaned forward. "They can't give up!" he said in a fierce whisper. "They — they can do anything! I know they can!"

"You have to understand that those people have hurt both of them worse than anyone else could even consider."

"I know. Mom told me when it was just me and her," Clint said, obviously upset and speaking at barely a whisper. "I just didn't know she'd  _given up_. That doesn't sound like my mom."

"It doesn't usually fit Logan either," Hank agreed.

"I want to help," Clint insisted. "I know I can. I took down a whole team before I got grabbed. Just think about how good I can be with training for the team! Dad says I need to learn to come up with plans before I rush in. I need more than just learning how to fight back. I need to learn how to  _fight_."

Hank nodded. "It might be wise to have Jean or the professor see what it was that happened while you were there."

Clint nodded quickly, almost eagerly. "Whatever you gotta know, I'll tell you. I promise. I want to save Mom and Dad from those guys. They should never get to touch them or James ever."

"We all feel that way, Clint," Hank promised before he finished up his exam and, instead of the usual Twinkie, he swept him up in another bear hug. "You're in wonderful shape."

Clint wrapped his arms around Hank's shoulders. "You know you're the only doctor I don't hate, right? Even if I get scared?"

"I take that honor very seriously, too," Hank told him. "Which is why I feel completely comfortable telling you that there are peanut butter cups in the bottom right hand drawer of my desk."


	11. Grandparents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kurt and Wanda go to Genosha with their brand-new kids.

 

Once the rush of activity surrounding the twins' arrival was past, Kurt and Wanda did actually take the time to sit down and decide how they were going to move forward.

And while Kurt was more than happy to take the title of "father" and to get married, he wanted to do things as properly as possible — starting with asking permission from her father. After all, they hadn't done anything in order, skipping right to parenthood, and Kurt wanted to make sure the rest of their marriage and partnership happened more, well, traditionally.

Though there was nothing truly traditional about flying to Genosha with two little boys in tow.

"You know, Kurt," Wanda said softly, "when Pietro and I left, we didn't feel we had any obligation—"

"This is about the principle of the matter," Kurt said, entwining their fingers. "We're getting married, Wanda. The only question is whether we do so with his blessing or not. But I would not be a gentleman if I didn't ask."

Wanda smiled and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "The problem will be explaining to him the  _age_ of our boys," she said.

"What, you mean there's something wrong with having beautiful angels spring fully formed from the dust? I must have been mistaken to celebrate such a miracle—"

Wanda laughed and kissed him properly. "You know what I mean."

"Yes, I suppose I do," Kurt agreed, tracing a finger down the curve of her face.

"Are you kissin' again?" Tommy sang out to them.

"Oh, always," Kurt said without taking his gaze off of Wanda. "That's something you must learn, Tommy. Find a beautiful woman and tell her every day how wonderful she is."

Billy made a face. "You're silly."

"He is," Wanda agreed, snagging Billy to pull him into her lap and shower him with kisses.

Kurt grinned and pulled Tommy over to do the same to him — and that turned into plenty of laughter and kisses and tickling all around until the plane finally arrived at Genosha, and Kurt took a moment to straighten both boys' shirts and remind them who they were going to see.

"Now, your grandfather hasn't met you before, but please don't use your uncle's name for him," Kurt said. "Not until he gets the chance to know you better."

Tommy and Billy glanced at each other, giggled, and then nodded in unison. "Okay, Dad," Billy said.

Kurt smiled gently and took Billy's hand, while Wanda held Tommy's as they walked out of the plane together, with both boys oohing and ahhing over the island already, well before they even saw Erik standing there in his cape and regalia.

"Is  _that_ our grandpa?" Billy asked, breaking free of Kurt to rush over to Erik and grin crookedly up at him. "Hi, Grandpa! Hi! I'm Billy!"

"Billy, don't crowd him," Wanda called out with a fond smile.

"Wanda," Erik said, frowning at the boys as he glanced between them and her. "What did you  _do_?"

"I'm still not entirely sure," Wanda admitted. "We woke up one day, and they were here. Aren't they wonderful, Daddy?" She smiled at him softly. "That's Billy, and this is Tommy." She gestured to Tommy, who was waving enthusiastically and pulling on her hand to get her to move faster so he could say hi too.

"They were just … as they are?" Erik asked, clearly trying to wrap his head around it.

Wanda nodded. "They appeared a couple weeks ago."

"Will they grow?"

"We're not sure," Wanda admitted. "As far as Dr. McCoy can tell, they're perfectly normal, so they  _should_ , but we're not taking anything for granted." She ruffled Tommy's hair — and then he made a break for it to tug on Erik's cape and say hi for himself. "But they're beautiful. They really are."

Erik was clearly bemused as he smirked at the two little boys — and then crouched down to their level. "Hello, boys."

"Hi," Billy said as Tommy bounced beside him. "I'm Billy. Didja see me? I'm kinda little."

"I did see you, young man," Erik said. "And you're much bigger than I was expecting."

"People keep being surprised by me," Billy said, nodding.

"And me," Tommy said, wrinkling his nose. "It's weird."

"It's not a bad thing," Erik said. "But everyone is simply used to meeting new children that start as newborn babies."

"Oh, babies like James," Billy said, nodding seriously. "Yeah, he's smaller than us for sure."

"I don't remember being that small," Tommy said, one eye closed as he thought it over. "I like being big."

"You're absolutely perfect," Kurt assured him gently.

"So," Erik said, looking up to address Wanda. "How was it that you came to have them, again? The way I understood your magic to work, it wasn't by random things simply happening of their own accord."

"No, it wasn't a complete accident," Wanda said, glancing toward Kurt. "I just got ahead of myself."

Kurt smiled and squeezed her hand before he turned to Erik. "Which is why we wanted to speak with you. We want to do things in the right order — as much as we can now." He held his hand out to Erik. "I'd like to marry your daughter — and care for the boys as well." He smirked toward Tommy in particular, with his bright yellow eyes. "They are mine, no matter how they arrived on this world."

Erik didn't look as though he was sure about any of it, but instead of addressing Kurt, he turned to Wanda. "And where do you stand in all of this, my dear?"

"If I hadn't already wanted a future with him, do you think the boys would look as they do?" Wanda pointed out.

"I still would like to hear where you stand, Wanda. Especially with so much simply presented, it shouldn't hurt to simply  _say_ how you feel."

Wanda shook her head and made sure to wrap her arms around Erik's neck. "Of course I love him," she said.

"But do you want to marry him?"

"Yes," she said firmly. "I really do. We're a bit rushed with the boys arriving, but this was what we were talking about before they came. Nothing's changed but the timeline."

"Then I think, perhaps, it would be best if Mr. Wagner and I spent a bit of time chatting," Erik said.

"We'll be waiting," Wanda said, one hand on the back of each boy's heads.

"Have fun, Dad! Have fun, Grandpa!" Billy sang out, waving enthusiastically.

Kurt smiled gently at both of them. "I'm sure you'll find plenty to explore," he told them. "This is a whole island, after all. You've never been on an island before."

"We've never been  _most_ places, silly," Tommy giggled, one hand over his mouth — Katie's influence already showing through.

"That's true enough," Kurt chuckled, making sure to toss both boys in the air before he tipped his head to Erik and indicated that he would follow his lead.

Wanda frowned after the two men as they left — until Billy tugged on her hand. "You look sad, Mom. Why do you look sad?"

"I just want your father and grandfather to get along," Wanda said.

"I bet they will," Tommy assured her. "I like 'em."

"They're both very different," Wanda said.

"Yeah, Dad doesn't have a cape," Billy said. His eyes went wide, and he tugged on Wanda's hand. "I want a cape! Can I have a cape? Can I  _pleeeeeease?_ "

"I want one too!" Tommy said quickly. "But no helmet. I  _like_ my hair!"

"I like my hair too! It's like Dad's!" Billy said. The two boys were practically dragging her along, pointing out all the stuff that they'd never seen before. The buildings, the people, the sound of the waves… all of it was new, and all of it was  _exciting._

…..including the blue woman that absolutely hadn't been expecting to have two little boys come rushing up to her to say hi — like they were doing to almost everyone on the island.

"Hi! I'm Billy!" Billy sang out.

"Wanda … what did you  _do_?" the woman said, almost cringing back from the little guy.

Wanda sighed. "My father said the exact same thing," she said, shaking her head. Then, a mischievous smile lit up her face. "Boys, say hello to your grandmother."

"Oooh! Hi!" Tommy said, running over to hug Mystique's leg. "Hi, Grandma! Hi!"

"Oh, they need to stop that," Mystique said.

"They've only ever known positive reinforcement. You could try it," Wanda said, one eyebrow raised.

"I don't think so," Mystique said.

"Boys, give Grandma a little space," Wanda said.

"I didn't even realize you were  _with_  Kurt," Mystique said, still looking as though she was near the height of discomfort.

"We've been together for a while," Wanda said, not particularly interested in giving her the whole story when she was reacting the way she was.

"Are you sure that's entirely wise?"

Wanda narrowed her eyes. "He's nothing like you, so I'm completely in love."

"Yes, I'm sure it's a real Romeo and Juliet situation," Mystique said dryly.

"Um, no," Billy said, scrunching up his nose. "My mom and dad are Wanda and Kurt. That's their names."

"Yeah, Grandma. You gotta keep up." Tommy tipped his head to the side. "So, are you married to Grandpa?"

"Oh, God, no," Mystique said, stepping back from them.

"They're still learning about the world," Wanda said. "They only have one grandfather and one grandmother. We're not introducing them to Kurt's father."

"Dad says that's a very, very bad idea," Billy said, his eyes wide.

"He's not wrong," Mystique confirmed, then nearly pulled her hand away when Billy tried to reach for her. "I have to go."

"Okay. Bye, Grandma!" Tommy sang out, waving enthusiastically.

There was a soft  _bamf_ sound, and Kurt appeared and put his arm around Wanda, just in time to see Mystique stalking off. "Oh, well, I see your talk with my mother went as well as can be expected. Did you tell her our happy news?"

Wanda shook her head. "I didn't give her much in the way of details."

"Probably for the best," Kurt said in a sigh that told her how much it bothered him that  _this_ was his family. "I think your father and I have come to an understanding, however."

"That's encouraging at least," Wanda said.

"It helps that he knows the boys should grow up with their father," Kurt said, then kissed her cheek. "Everything happens for a reason, love. Perhaps your wish to see us happy together brought our sons into our lives the way they came because it eased the path forward."

"Always finding the brightest path," Wanda replied with a warm smile.

"Always," he agreed and then kissed her gently.


	12. Heroes Already

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which all the kids are darling, and we love them.

 

After spending plenty of time with the Avengers, making doubly sure that no one was going to come after the kids, the Howletts finally headed back to the institute right before school was set to start — and Clint made a beeline right for Scott.

K had suggested that he wait until after he'd had enough distance from the department before bringing up training so that he didn't have the "excuse" of being fresh off of trauma. But he was still determined, and he knew the argument he wanted to make — and he projected it to Jean almost as soon as he was there.

_I want to help my parents fight off the guys that hurt them. And me. And I need to know how to do that now, not in two years._

_That is a very tall order, Clint_ , Jean replied after a beat — obviously taking a moment to switch her focus to the determined kid in their midst.

 _It shouldn't be,_ Clint argued.  _These guys have been after me since I was six._

_And they've been after your parents for much longer than that._

_I know. But Jean, I took out a whole squad on my own, just with the self-defense stuff I've learned here and from my parents and the Avengers. What if I knew how to actually take them on?_

_Clint, you don't seem to realize: your parents know how to take them on, and they still get overrun. If these bad guys think a little force will do the trick, they always show up with more than they think they need._

_Yeah, I know. They're the only ones that scare my parents. And that scares me. But I can't wait. I know I have to be thirteen to be on a team, but … but I'm ten and I've already gotten into more trouble than some of the junior team members, and you know it._

_We can start your training, but you need to learn which fights you can take on and which ones you have to walk away from, Clint._

_I know. Dad says I go in half-cocked. Please?_

_We can work on your training, of course,_ Jean promised.  _But I can't even begin to tell you how much training they have and the many,_ many  _years it took to get there._

_I gotta start somewhere, Jean. I gotta fight 'em. They already know I've got Mom's genes. I can't walk away from the fight anymore. And when they find out about James, they'll come after him too. You know they will._

_Yes, they will,_ Jean said, sounding perfectly disappointed and tired.

_We should get the Avengers and… and Katie's new friends. The Defenders. I bet they'd help take the department down too, right?_

_Maybe,_ Jean said slowly.  _But we can't count on anyone else wanting to take on that fight._

_You know how many people love my sisters and James…. And me. You know that, right? And how many people love Mom and Dad? You think Steve's not gonna volunteer? I know you and Scott would in a heartbeat._

_I know. And we'll figure it out. We will. You're right; I don't want to think about what would happen if they got a hold of one of you kids._

_That doctor was really interested when he thought Mom might have another kid like me,_ Clint warned her.  _This isn't over. Mom and Dad know it, and I know it too._ He paused.  _But… but maybe if I'm on a team too… maybe people will notice when I'm missing. Not just my family. And you and Scott and Jan and everybody are part of that family. It's just… maybe the world needs an X-Man-Avenger like me to_ say  _how bad things are._

Jean really didn't know what to say to that, so instead, she waved him a little closer and simply wrapped him up in a tight hug. "You really are wonderful."

"I'm just saying things that are true, you know," Clint said, though he hugged her back as tightly as he knew she needed to be hugged. "I think if normal people knew about stuff like the department, they'd be mad too."

"I would hope so," Jean said.

"I know so," Clint said. "I mean, these guys were willing to grab me before they even knew I could heal. They hurt people. They hurt  _kids_. You gotta admit: that's universally  _bad_."

"It is," Jean agreed. "So, let's go see Scott and decide on a plan of action."

"You'll back me up?" Clint asked, brightening up immediately.

"Someone will need to, and your parents are kind of … involved. You know how they like to do after a big push."

Clint grinned. "That and Billy and Tommy have been asking about where babies come from. And they're being honest. And now the twins are encouraging kissing from  _everyone_ because they want to meet a  _brand new_ baby."

"Oh, wow," Jean said, her eyebrows high. "Who was honest to start with?"

"Well, Wanda gave them a watered-down version, but Tommy kept pressing, and you know how Dad feels about answering kids honestly…"

"How did Wanda and Kurt handle that?" Jean asked, honestly trying not to laugh.

"Kurt was laughing," Clint said with a crooked grin. "Wanda hit him."

"That sounds right," Jean agreed. "And now the boys have to learn what inappropriate questions are."

"They have to learn a  _lot_ ," Clint said, nodding seriously. "They ask the funniest stuff. I showed Billy how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich once. He said it was  _magic_."

"They probably think everything is magic," Jean said as they walked down the hall.

"Yeah, Billy learned that word from everyone calling  _them_ magic, and he basically just thinks it's the word you use for anything amazing."

Jean was clearly amused. "They're not exactly wrong."

"Yeah, I like hanging out with them," Clint said. "Mom promised they could come over on weekends to play. Tommy and Billy both love my sisters. Not a surprise. I've got the best sisters, you know. In the whole world. And I bet they'd like Rachel and Lizzie and Nate, too! They think James is  _so cool_ because he's a baby!"

"Then they should probably just be happy to know  _him_ for now, don't you think?" Jean asked.

"Well, they should meet your twins, I think," Clint said. "I like them too. And James gets tired of all the attention sometimes. He's like Dad like that."

"Your mom is like that too," Jean pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess he got a double dose of not liking people," Clint agreed, grinning crookedly. "C'mon. Let's go talk to Scott, huh?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Billy and Tommy were, in fact, following Logan and K around as they visited their dad's school. Kurt and Wanda were trying to figure out how to balance their family with Kurt being on the X-Men and Wanda being on the Avengers, and so far, they were trending toward spending the weekdays at school so Kurt could keep up his drama class, with weekends and summers at the tower… and they'd both be on call for emergencies with each other's teams.

It wasn't too far from what Logan and K were doing to balance Logan's duties on both teams, either. But it was still quite the juggling act.

Not that the boys were at all aware of all the planning and plotting taking place on their behalf. They just knew that they were at their  _dad's school_  and that it was  _amazing_ — but most of all, Logan and K and  _James_ were there.

"When's he gonna talk?" Billy asked for what had to be the seventeenth time as he peered around Logan to look at James. "Today?"

"He probably won't talk for a while," Logan told him. "Think months, kiddo, not hours."

"That sounds like forever. I haven't even been alive that long!"

"Don't wanna tell you how old I am, then," Logan chuckled.

"How old are you?" Tommy asked, unable to resist.

"Around a hundred and fifteen," Logan said. "Give or take a little."

"Months?"

"Years."

" _Wow._ "

"Couple months is nothin' at all, boys," Logan said.

"But it seems like it," Billy said, running on his tippy-toes to try to see James while he was keeping up with the grown-ups. "I want to play with him!"

"He's about to go to sleep," Logan told him.

"Oh, okay." Billy bit his lip. "My dad sings songs when I'm sleepy. Can I try that? I know some! There's a pretty one in German. That's the language he speaks. Did you know that?"

"Yeah, I know that," Logan agreed. "You can try, but he usually just falls asleep on me."

"Okay." Billy grinned up at him, bouncing on his toes. "I want to try."

"Go ahead, kiddo," Logan said.

Billy grinned and then followed Logan to sit down in the living room and rearrange himself so Logan could help him settle James in his arms. Once James was snuggled in, Billy sang, in halting German:

_Guten Abend, gut' Nacht_

_Von Englein bewacht_

_Die zeigen im Traum_

_Dir Christkindleins Baum_

_Schlaf nun selig und süß_

_Schau im Traum 's Paradies_

_Schlaf nun selig und süß_

_Schau im Traum 's Paradies_

_(Good evening, goodnight,_

_Watched over by angels_

_In a dream they show you_

_The Christ-child's tree_

_Sleep blessed and sweetly_

_Look for paradise in your dream_

_Sleep blessed and sweetly_

_Look for paradise in your dream)_

Somewhere during the song, James switched from staring up at Billy to quietly curling in a little more snugly, and by the time Billy finished, James let out a hitched, contented sigh and simply fell asleep.

Billy's eyes went wide, and then he looked up at Logan. " _Oh my gosh,_ " he said in a whisper.

"Toldja he was tired," Logan said in a soft rumble.

"I love him," Billy said reverently.

"I'm sure you'll get along great," Logan said.

"I'll take really good care of him, I promise," Billy said. "Like how Clint and Barney take care of all the kids that're younger. Or how Katie and Susie have been helping me and my brother learn things!"

"That's how all you kids are," Logan told him as Billy reached out to look at James' hands — then had to try and stop the giggle when James grabbed a hold of his hand in his sleep.

"I love him so much," Billy whispered.

"Me too. I love him lots," Tommy piped up.

"It's hard not to love a baby," Logan pointed out.

"Because they're so little?" Tommy asked.

"And they've never done anything to anyone," Logan said.

"Except be cute," Billy said, still giggling quietly to himself.

"Do you think that's why everyone likes us? Because we're new?" Tommy asked Logan, perfectly openly.

Logan tipped his head. "Little kids get a free pass," he said finally.

"Okay, but a free pass for what?"

"You're learning how to be whoever you are," Logan said. "Kids need to be protected."

"Yeah, Katie told us about how there's good guys and bad guys," Billy said, talking as quietly as he could when he was holding James. "And how you and your friends protect us from 'em."

"That's the basics," Logan agreed. "You'll learn all about it, and a lot of other things, too."

"It's a lot," Tommy said, his eyes wide.

"Yeah, there's all sorts of stuff we don't even know we don't know," Billy agreed, similarly wide-eyed. "It's hard to learn it all!"

"Just take a little at a time, you'll be fine," Logan promised, then reached over to mess up Billy's curls. "You're doin' pretty good, kiddo."

Billy beamed up at him. "Thanks. I'm trying real hard."

"Me too!" Tommy piped up. "I'm trying hard too!"

"You're doing good too, Troubles," Logan told him.

Tommy grinned and flashed Logan a thumbs up. "Yep, that's my name!" he laughed, then rushed off to go find Katie so he could tell her the latest name he had from her parents, leaving Billy giggling and still holding James.


	13. No Defender Left Behind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a VERY ADORABLE wedding.

 

* * *

The Avengers hosted the wedding for Kurt and Wanda, and while the two soon-to-be-newlyweds had been perfectly fine with the idea of a simple affair, that was never going to be the case when Tony Stark got a hold of the planning.

"No way is a member of  _my_ team missing out," he'd said — and that was, clearly, that. The next thing anyone knew, they were all knee-deep in ice sculptures, catering, and floral arrangements.

It definitely didn't help matters that Jan was right there alongside Tony encouraging him the whole time. In fact, she might actually have been the worse offender when it came to making a big deal out of everything. Just like she'd done when K and Logan were getting married, she was positively gushing over Wanda and the chance to get a dress done for her, not to mention Kurt and the fact that he had to have his tux custom-made…

But for as much fussing as the Avengers were doing over their friends, the whole thing came together in a surprisingly short amount of time, complete with ringbearer outfits for the boys and plenty of kid-friendly food in addition to the fully-stocked wine selection.

If anyone had asked them for their honest reaction, Kurt and Wanda both would have admitted to being in shock — not that they were saying as much as the moment, not when their friends had gone to such lengths to do a nice wedding, and not when the boys were beside themselves with excitement. The boys had never seen anything like this, and since they'd each been assigned a ring to carry, they were  _so_ proud of the roles they had to play.

The wedding was well-attended, too, with most of the X-Men and Avengers in attendance and even a few others, like the Four and Bruce Banner — though that was also because Tony was working with his fellow brainiacs on tracking down any data the department had on the kids to eradicate it. Especially anything to do with Clint or James.

But even with all the muss and fuss, everything seemed to fade away to perfect tranquility once the organ started up and Wanda walked down the aisle behind her grinning boys. Even if she and Kurt hadn't quite imagined that this was how their wedding would go, neither of them could stop grinning, especially when Billy and Tommy were giggling and giddy with excitement.

So it was that much more amazing for the boys when, after Wanda and Kurt had said their vows to each other, they shared a kiss and then each swept up a little boy to set their kids at the front of the altar, crouch down, and give the boys their own vows, complete with promises to love them forever and ever.

Billy cried.

By that point, the two little boys were fairly attached to their parents, peppering their mom and dad with kisses and hugs and generally being  _thrilled_ with the whole thing, so the gathered heroes in attendance were all entertained watching Kurt and Wanda go through the usual wedding events one-handed, greeting guests and giving toasts, the whole nine yards. (Though Kurt did have an advantage when he could use his tail to cut the cake, and Wanda could magic her way through anything that became too difficult with her hands full of Tommy.)

It was a good thing the boys were getting such care and attention from their parents, too, because Kurt and Wanda fully intended to have a honeymoon  _just the two of them_ , and it took some convincing to get the boys to let go so they could stay with their Uncle Pietro.

"But we're having fun!" Tommy insisted, clinging to Wanda.

"It's  _our_ wedding too!" Billy agreed.

"Yeah, we were in it and everything!" Tommy said.

Kurt and Wanda were obviously torn between wanting to shower the boys with affection and wanting to get away so they could shower  _each other_ with affection, and Wanda kissed Tommy's head. "And you did such a good job," she promised. "But we're only going to be gone for a few days."

"That's  _forever_!" Tommy complained, throwing his head back and rolling his eyes.

Kurt chuckled and tapped the end of Tommy's nose. "Remember what I told you about how you must let beautiful girls know you care about them? I love your mother, and I want to give her my full attention to show her that."

Again, Tommy made a dramatic face, though Billy was nodding along with every word Kurt said, his expression nearly awestruck. "That's really nice," he told Kurt.

"That's what you do when you're in love," Kurt told him. "One day, when you find someone to love, you'll do the same things."

Tommy pulled a face. "Sounds mushy."

Kurt broke into a teasing grin. "So you don't have anyone you'd like to marry?"

"Well…" Tommy tipped his head to the side. "Katie, I  _guess_ , if I  _had_ to, but I like being ringbearer and not running away to not have fun anymore with nobody else."

Kurt started to laugh outright at Tommy's outlook. "Good to know!"

By that time, Pietro had made his way over to try and help the kids let go of their parents — and he had come completely prepared with bribery. "So, I have ice cream waiting in my room, and it's going to melt if you keep sticking around here," he told the boys.

Both of them instantly lit up. "Ice cream?" they said at the same time, ears perked up and everything.

Wanda laughed as she handed a now-suddenly-excited-again Tommy over to Pietro. "Thanks for watching them."

"That's what brothers do," Pietro pointed out as he set Tommy on his shoulders. "Besides, the rest of the Avengers are pitching in too. Not like I'm doing this solo."

"Uncle Pietro, me too!" Billy said, nearly falling out of Kurt's arms in his attempt to get to Pietro, and once he was there, he hugged Pietro tightly.

"Good luck," Kurt said with a laugh.

"Hey, I can handle it," Pietro defended.

"I wasn't talking to you," Kurt said, his eyes sparkling with ill-hidden mischief before he took Wanda's hand and disappeared in a cloud of blue smoke before Pietro could say anything.

Which left Pietro shaking his head before he tipped his head backwards to look at Tommy, who was looking at him upside down. "Your dad is ridiculous. You know that?"

"Okay," Tommy said, clearly and completely unbothered by the whole thing.

Pietro shook his head again. "Come on," he said. "Let's go get that ice cream."

* * *

Meanwhile, Katie seemed to be spending the entire wedding looking for something — or someone — and it wasn't until the guests started to disperse that she got a funny sort of look on her face, pushed out her lower lip, and went to go find her dad. Logan was dancing with K in the middle of the dance floor, wrapped up in his wife while Steve watched James for them — so he didn't move from where he was until Katie started tugging on his sleeve so insistently that he couldn't possibly ignore her.

"What's wrong, darlin'?" he asked when he saw the clearly upset expression on her face.

"Not all my friends got to come to the party!" she said, her eyes wide. She was clutching an extra little container of the bubbles that she and the others kids had blown at Kurt and Wanda during their exit back down the aisle, and she looked almost lost.

Logan and K glanced at each other, not entirely sure which of Katie's friends she could have been so upset about. As far as they knew, everyone was there. Even Barney had taken some time off from the circus to come be part of the festivities, seeing as he'd gotten to meet the twins when he had come to the tower to make sure Clint was okay, and he was now incredibly invested in seeing how things worked out for the unorthodox family.

"Who do you think is missing, sweetheart?" K asked, crouching down to Katie's level.

Katie's lower lip started to quiver. "I got to see my Matt, but I didn't get to see Mr. Frank, and I gotted him bubbles!"

Once again, Logan and K shared a glance. They'd known that Katie had gotten incredibly attached to Frank while they'd been gone, but they clearly hadn't realized just  _how_ attached she was.

"Mr. Frank doesn't always like to come to things like this," Logan explained. "Parties aren't really his thing."

"But you don't like parties and  _you_ go!" Katie reasoned.

"Little bit different here, darlin'," Logan explained gently. "Kurt's my best friend. I wasn't gonna miss his wedding."

Katie sighed, letting her shoulders drop. "But I really,  _really_ wanted to see my friends!"

"Tell you what," K said, a bit of trouble sparkling in her eyes. "Why don't you and I pay Mr. Frank a visit on the way home? I'm sure he'd love to see you again." As she said it, Logan didn't even bother trying to hide his smirk, knowing that Frank would be thrown off his game by the visit — and by the girls, who seemed to have a knack for keeping everyone off-balance.

Katie instantly brightened and nodded quickly. "Oh, can we, please?"

"Sure thing. Let's just make sure your brothers and your sister get all squared away first."

Katie nodded enthusiastically, practically bounding away so she could  _loudly_ announce to Barney that he had to stop flirting with Kitty now so they could go home and she could go see Mr. Frank. Which had Clint snorting laughing, especially when both Kitty and Barney turned red.

"I certainly hope she never grows out of that," Hank chuckled as he gathered up a tired-looking Susie to help with the efforts to wrangle the kids to go home.

"What, busting people out?" Logan shook his head with a laugh. "Kid's being doing that since she got here. Pretty sure she was made that way."

"Another perfectly-formed child coming to you on gossamer wings?" Hank teased, his eyes twinkling in K's direction.

"Do they come any other way?" K replied without missing a beat.

"Of course not," Hank laughed.

K smiled at that and then made her way over to Susie so she could kiss the little girl's forehead and brush back her hair. "Did you have fun, Susie B. Jones?"

Susie picked up her head with a tired smile. "Uh-huh."

"Did you get to dance with any cute boys?"

Susie giggled and nodded, her response once again a quiet "uh-huh" before she went back to hiding in Hank's fur.

"I saw Barney teaching you how to dance," K teased.

"Yeah, he's really good," Susie said, blushing high on her cheeks.

"He didn't step on your toes, did he?" K asked.

Susie shook her head.

"Good." K reached over to play with Susie's dangling feet. "That would be too sad."

Susie giggled and then snuggled deeper into Hank's fur, letting out a great yawn and rubbing her eyes. "You're silly."

"Just for you, Susie-Cutie."

Hank smiled as he readjusted the way he was holding Susie. "I'll make sure this tired little one gets to bed. I'm sure I'll see you both back home," he said.

K smiled after both of them as she saw them off, and she'd barely even turned to look for Katie before the little girl was attached to her at the knees, grinning up at K with a troublemaking look in her eyes. "I got the boys," she informed K. "Let's go see Mr. Frank!"

"You got it," K said, picking Katie up to kiss her cheek before the two of them headed off, knowing that Logan would get the boys home on his own.

* * *

As for Frank, he absolutely hadn't been expecting any visitors. In fact, he'd been planning to sleep for a couple days straight after he'd torn up the town getting rid of the last of the mobsters who had even  _thought_ about going after the Bishop girls for a payday.

There was a lot more he still had to do, of course. These guys wouldn't stop at two little girls. There were plenty of others who were more than willing to use kids to get what they wanted. But Frank was taking things one disaster at a time.

So when he heard someone knocking, he was honestly pissed off about it and was ready to tell whoever it was where they could shove it — until he saw K and Katie standing there with bright smiles and, for some reason, a white ribbon-wrapped package of bubbles.

"Hi, Mr. Frank," Katie said brightly.

"What are you doin' here, kiddo?" Frank asked, though he was looking down the hall both ways.

"You weren't at the party," Katie explained in a perfectly matter-of-fact tone. "And I was sad for you not getting to come!"

"Do you mind if we come in?" K asked, one hand resting on Katie's shoulder. "She wanted to make sure you didn't get left out."

Frank blinked a few times and simply stepped aside to let them in, though he was still clearly unconvinced that someone wasn't following them.

As soon as they were inside, Katie wriggled to be let down and then held out the bubbles to Frank. "I saved these for you," she told him with a smile. "We were all blowin' bubbles for the marriage, and it was fun, so I saved them for you!"

Frank smirked crookedly at that as he took the little gift. "That's real thoughtful, sweetheart."

Katie beamed at him. "You're welcome!" she said happily.

"You really came all the way down here just to give me some bubbles?" Frank asked as he crouched down to her level. "You didn't have to do that, you know."

"Yeah, but you're my friend," Katie said, shrugging up both shoulders.

"You're a real sweetie, you know that, Katie-girl?"

Katie grinned and hugged him. "We brought some food 'cause of how you didn't get any at the marriage, except I thought maybe you wouldn't like cake, so we got other stuff, huh, Mom?"

"I picked the place; she picked your dinner," K said, holding up a take out bag. "And I promised her next time, we'd just bring the stuff to  _make_ something for you." K smirked a little crookedly. "I figured one-off is one thing … I'm too  _careful_ to trust it a second time around, though."

"You don't have to do that," Frank said, even as Katie got herself comfortable snuggling in.

"Yet I'm still going to," K said. "Accept it now; it'll make your life easier."

"Yeah, 'cause Mom takes care of people she likes," Katie said. "Just like my dad does too. And you helped me an' Susie, so… we like you!"

Frank didn't quite know what to say to her, and instead, he let out a low chuckle and pulled her closer to kiss the side of her head. K stepped around them and took up a spot across the room and out of sight as she looked out the windows — quietly and obviously taking up Frank's watch so he could get a break while Katie told him  _all_ about the wedding and how her new friends were so happy and got to be ringbearers and wasn't that so cool?

By the time Katie had talked herself out, she was even starting to fall asleep, and she rested her head on Frank's shoulder a few times as she lost the battle with gravity.

"I've left my number for you if you need a hand," K said as she made her way over to collect Katie. "If you get in trouble, I  _expect_ a phone call."

"Not really how I usually work."

"So adapt," K said. "Like it or not, Katie's adopted you — and since she's mine, that means I've adopted you too. Mazel tov."

Katie giggled and blew Frank a kiss. "That's Swedish."

At that, Frank broke into an honest laugh and couldn't tamp down the smile. "Alright, Katie-girl. If you say so," he said with a chuckle. "You be good for your mom, okay?"

"Okay!" she promised, snuggling into K's side and waving at him before the two of them headed out, leaving Frank shaking his head over the whole thing.

"Sure you don't need an escort goin' back to wherever it is?" Frank called out before they could turn the corner.

"I don't think even your little mob idiots are stupid enough to try something tonight," K said. "Enjoy your night."

Frank laughed. He wasn't sure how this had become his life, but it had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter of this volume. Keep your eyes peeled for the next one, coming soon: "Banner Year!"


End file.
